Twisted Existence
by iJapan
Summary: Ichigo is at war with Soul Society, joining with Aizen in Hueco Mundo in the hopes of defeating those who have made his life a bitter hell - his ultimate goal, Aizen himself. Ichigo works to rid of him and his treachery along with two certain Sexta and Octava Espadas - the three becoming much closer as they do so. M for language, violence, sex. Yaoi. Threesome, Szayel/Ichi/Grimm.
1. The Promise Has Been Made

**A/N: This story was written as a request for a friend of mine. We were talking about Bleach pairings, and somehow we got on the topic of threesomes (as you do, you know xD), and she said "I really want Ichigo to be with Szayel Granz and Grimmjow..." and I nearly died because I've secretly been harbouring my affections for that delicious threesome since... forever xD I hope I do them justice. **

**Just some quick notes... This is the first threesome I have ever written (it's my second yaoi I've uploaded to FF though), so PLEASE forgive me if it's not to your liking. I've tried my best to make it as interesting and as dramatic a story as I possibly can. This is the first full-length story I've written, which took me 10 days to write and 190 pages on Word. I do NOT normally write stories like this. I tend to be a one-shot type of person, or at least write short stories. **

**THERE IS OOC-NESS! ... AND A CHANGE TO THE STORYLINE. This takes place when Ichigo is 18, and only a few months after Aizen went to Hueco Mundo with Tousen and Gin. M rating for language, violence, and of course, THE actual 'act' in two chapters quite a bit down the track. In my defence to OOC though... think about it. If none of the characters were OOC, how would Grimmjow, Szayel and Ichigo get together in the first place? Yeah... think about that :P **

**Anyway... I really do hope you enjoy! NO FLAMES, PLEASE.**

**Disclaimer (for all 11 chapters): I don't own Bleach, or the characters (as much as I'd like to own Szayel-sama T^T) ... Kubo Tite does. That lucky duck. **

* * *

**Twisted Existence**

**Chapter 1: The Promise Has Been Made**

Orange.

Like the scented leaves of summer trees falling during the onslaught of the changing seasons.

Like the bright rays of the sun reflected in the golden clouds adorning the ocean's bronzed sunset.

Like the shimmering wisps of the autumn festival's fireworks – spreading messages of hope and joy across the land.

In his centuries old lifetime, he had seen many things which spoke of the warm colour representing adventure, freedom and strength.

Yet never before, in Soul Society or anywhere else for that matter, had Aizen Sousuke been truly fascinated with the deep hue. Not until a certain brash, intrepid and downright infuriating young teenager had been so bold as to storm Seireitei to rescue Kuchiki Rukia of the Gotei 13's 13th Division; adopted sister to the 28th head of the noble Kuchiki house, Kuchiki Byakuya.

From that moment on, Aizen had found he had taken a certain interest in the colour.

Not for what the colour represented – but for the boy whose hair was a vibrant shock of the hue. The boy… _and his abilities_.

Yes, he had known all about this wonder child born eighteen years ago – indeed, he knew a great deal of things which should have never been known to shinigami. He was, after all, the being who had transcended the very essence of spirit life to that of the Otherworld. Hollows.

And this boy… was _definitely _of interest to him.

_Kurosaki Ichigo_.

Bringing his hand to his forehead, resting his cheek against the splayed fingers caressing his face underneath his locks of brown hair, Aizen allowed a smile to grace his features as he gazed at the monitor in front of him. Feedback of a number of the Kurosaki boy's fights were unravelling before his eyes – not for the first time these past few months. The boy was intriguing; having developed Hollow powers at the age of fifteen (all according to Aizen's plans, of course), and learning how to control the beast within himself over such a relatively small timeframe was astounding; the immense reiatsu the youth possessing only making his value to the scheming shinigami traitor much more profound.

He would be a useful tool in the upcoming war.

By having Kurosaki on his side, Aizen could mould the boy into the ideal soldier, to fight for him, kill for him. To serve him as loyally as the Espada.

He would be the perfect weapon to destroy Soul Society.

And the Gotei 13 knew this, too.

After all, they had refrained from making any attempt to capture the traitorous Division 3, 5 and 9 captains when they ascended to the land of the Hollows – Hueco Mundo. They merely stated that they needed time to regroup and assess the current situation – to not make any decisions until they had all of the facts.

They told the boy to simply "lie and wait until he was further made aware of the predicament".

In reality, they were afraid to admit that they knew of Aizen's plans all along – to enter Hueco Mundo and gather an army, to destroy Karakura Town and create the King's Key. They avoided passing this knowledge along to the hot-headed teen, perceiving him to jump fool heartedly into the fray and inevitably pounce into the waiting arms of the man who was aiming for him to make that very move.

Aizen would have the boy in an instant.

It would all be over.

The shinigami traitor chuckled, deep voice rumbling in his throat as he laughed at the stupidity of those in Soul Society.

They had only made gaining the boy much, much easier for him.

By shutting Kurosaki off from their knowledge and insight, he was being repressed from what he had come to believe his duties as substitute shinigami and protector of Karakura Town were to be. He had fallen slowly into a tumultuous pit of despair inside his mind – no one would help him. No one would come.

Until now.

_Yes_, Aizen thought as he reclined in his chair, switching the monitors off and gazing pensively into the black nothingness of the empty screens before him, _you have made him easier to claim as my soldier. I thank you, Yamamoto Genryuusai. Without you and the Gotei 13, none of this would have been possible. You have paved the way for greatness for me and the new addition to my 'family'. _

_It will not be long now. _

_I will have the boy's powers, and your world will crumble. _

_Of that, I assure you._

* * *

"Somethin' wrong, Aizen-taichou? Ya lookin' much too serious fer yer own good. It'll make ya look all old."

Watching the brown haired man from where he was seated in his chair, all silent and unmoving in the darkened room save for the occasional rustle of cloth as the man shifted in his seat every so often, the silver haired form of Ichimaru Gin waited at the door for a response to his quip. All he received was a vague murmur of acknowledgment that his presence was noted.

The corners of his sly, split-faced smile drew tighter and Gin strode forwards silently.

"Ya thinkin' 'bout that Kurosaki kid again, ain't ya?"

"Yes… I am," came the reply.

Now standing so he was next to the reclining elder male, Gin tilted his head to gaze slightly under the lids of his ever-closed eyes towards the other shinigami traitor. He noted that by the look on his face, Aizen had finally come to a decision on what was to be done about the teenager.

"So what 'ave ya decided?"

Aizen's lips formed into a slight smile.

"Ever observant as always, Gin."

"O' course," the silver haired man replied breezily.

Aizen pressed his fingertips slightly together as he leaned forward, resting his elbows on his knees; his gaze redirected back to the black television monitors.

"The time has come. I have been observing the boy and I deem that we should begin to make our move presently. The Gotei 13 are growing restless with the threat of the Winter War, though they will be in shock when they learn that their battle will occur sooner than expected. This will weaken them, which is good. It shall also bide enough time to obtain Kurosaki and bring him to our side. Gin," the elder male suddenly spoke up in a louder tone, turning his head to gaze at his grinning companion, "call the Espada. Arrange a meeting. Their acceptance of the boy is crucial to our plan."

Gin inclined his head in a slight nod of confirmation at this, and turned around to sweep out of the room, his Arrancar shihakushou billowing gently behind him as he did so.

As soon as he sensed the other's presence fade away, Aizen returned his gaze back to the screens.

* * *

"Thank you all for assembling at such short notice. I am aware that this may be somewhat inconvenient to most of you," Aizen's voice rang out across the meeting hall, his brown eyed gaze sweeping over the ten people gathered at the elongated ovular centre table.

Ten pairs of eyes gazed back at him; expressions unreadable.

This was the only time in which every elite member of the Espada had sat at full attention during these sessions; they were given the report that war would soon be upon them. And their lord had obtained a weapon which would enable them to ensure complete victory over the threat of Soul Society.

A couple of heads turned to inspect this way and that, evidently in search of the otherwise empty room to catch some glimpse of this concealed weapon.

"As Gin has already informed you, the time is finally upon us to exact our long awaited punishment on Soul Society, my friends. If you will focus your attention on the projector, I will now reveal to you that which I have been seeking for many months now. Our new ally, which will turn our fortunes in this war."

As he spoke, a translucent spherical object immediately began spinning and whirring a few centimetres from the white-washed wood of the table, emitting a faint static sound before blaring forth a hologram image of a young man, barely out of his teens, with vibrant orange locks of hair.

A few eyes widened.

This? _This _was what had held Aizen-sama in fascination for these past months? A _human_?

Scattered mumblings erupted forth from the gathered group; whispers of disbelief, some of approval, and others of uncertainty.

Two of the ten gathered, remained silent however.

Trailing his gaze over the holographic visual, cyan eyes locked intently upon the image of the boy's form; a wild blue haired male – handsome in features with a slight feral air to his smile, his right cheek adorned with a skeletal-like jawbone, his black and white clothing loose fitting and his shirt unbuttoned to reveal an expanse of toned, muscled flesh; corded arms equally muscular as they grasped in a resting position on the tabletop – considered the sight before him.

_This boy…_

"What's his name?" he spoke out, not intending his rough voice to carry throughout the now-silent room as it did upon his question being voiced.

Aizen looked at him.

"I'm glad you asked, Grimmjow. His name is Kurosaki Ichigo."

Sexta Espada Grimmjow Jaegerjaquez nodded faintly, returning his cyan eyed gaze back to the visual.

"But, Aizen-sama, this young 'Kurosaki Ichigo' is a human! Getting him involved with this war would be too dangerous… for both sides…" a lighter, musical voice blurted out.

Everyone gathered turned their gaze to look at the pink haired male who had interjected.

His face delicate yet carrying an air of strength, his figure slight and lean, golden eyes glinted underneath narrow white rimmed glasses – the remainder of his Hollow mask – and the male ran a hand through his hair for a moment, his eyes not once leaving the hologram.

Grimmjow looked at his fellow Espada member; the Octava Espada, Szayelaporro Granz. He could tell just by looking at the younger man that he was as deeply concerned about this matter as he was. Trying to recruit this boy, a teenager, and human no less, would lead to nothing but death for the youth. Though not open about it with the others, for obvious reasons, Grimmjow and Szayel had long since reserved doubts about Aizen's so-called 'leadership' within Hueco Mundo and its palace, Las Noches.

Though by no means merciful beings, the pair still regained a sense of honour.

And dragging in those who would lose themselves to a pointless cause did not bode well with either of them.

Seeing his pink-haired friend's glance at first the projected image of the orange haired boy, then those golden eyes flicking up briefly to lock into cyan blue, Grimmjow knew that he was not the only one who was currently experiencing conflicted emotions over this young man.

Aizen would lead him to his death. And if he didn't, the teen would end up begging for his end long before his time.

"Be that as it may, Szayelaporro, this boy possesses a rather unique set of abilities, as well as an exceptional pronounced reiatsu. He has overwhelming power. I have seen him with my very eyes, and believe me, I know his worth. Therefore, the substitute shinigami Kurosaki Ichigo shall be taken to Hueco Mundo."

Whilst he continued, Grimmjow and Szayel falling silent after his explanation, Aizen could not help the smile which formed as he concluded. The time to act, was now.

_My Espada are expendable. You however, Kurosaki Ichigo, are not. It is imperative that you make your way to me. But of course… I already know you will. _

* * *

At the same time, deep below in the World of the Living, the sun began to climb over the rooftops of Karakura Town, the warmth of the light highlighting the trees and streets with a lazy glow. One such person was among those beginning their preparations for the new day; orange hair ruffling in the cool breeze as it caressed his face and neck.

Warm brown eyes gazing thoughtfully up at the blue sky, Kurosaki Ichigo took in a deep breath and held it for a minute of silence.

Something was going to happen today.

He could feel it.

* * *

**A/N: Well, that's the first chapter! Please review or PM or whatever and let me know what you think. I shall be uploading the rest of the chapters as soon as I'm able to, when I'm not busy with Uni. **

**Until then, thank you so much for reading, and I hope to see you next chapter! :D**


	2. The Pact Has Been Sealed

**A/N: Oh my God, thank you all so much! I really wasn't expecting this story to get so many positive reviews, favourites and follows - and it was just for the first chapter alone! I really do hope that the rest of the story is to everyone's liking... It DOES sort of go a little too fast in some places in my opinion, but... we'll cross that bridge when we get to it, and hopefully you won't be left too disappointed by it. **

**ANYWAY, here is the next chapter. Enjoy!**

* * *

**Chapter 2: The Pact Has Been Sealed**

His footfalls echoing around the darkened marble corridor, Grimmjow's eyes narrowed as his mind clouded with the information Aizen had recently imparted with the Espada.

He was unable to quell his swirling anger knowing that the boy having Hollow powers, had just branded him to be hunted for life by the treacherous ex-shinigami that had claimed dominion over Las Noches.

At first, he had disregarded this concern for the boy simply as knowledge that he would know what would happen to the kid if he was brought to Hueco Mundo – he had seen it happen before, after all. Aizen, the smarmy, sycophantic bastard, had lured Hollows and stray shinigami to Las Noches previously.

Only to dispose of them the very moment they ceased to be of use.

His teeth grit together tightly and his hand fisted up so his knuckles were white against his tanned skin; Grimmjow could remember hearing those pained and tortured cries echoing throughout the entirety of the palace, just as audibly as his footsteps echoed now throughout this empty hallway. That time served as a reminder that Aizen cared little for those whom he had tricked into his service. The Espada included. He had them all by a leash.

The surge of wrath burst through his chest, his reiatsu temporarily flickering at heated levels before he willed himself to calm down as he continued on his way.

Running his other hand through his shock of blue hair, Grimmjow let loose a deep sigh.

No… this fear he had for Kurosaki Ichigo went a little beyond concern for the youth's wellbeing. Maybe it had to do with the fact that he was so similar to the Espada – having a Hollow side, yet still retaining the abilities of a shinigami.

The Arrancar were, after all, Hollows who had gained shinigami powers.

_Nah_… _that's not really it, either. Fucking hell, I'm blundering in the dark here_.

Another sigh fell from his lips as he paused in his tracks outside of a large cream coloured door which was slightly ajar – as he knew it would be.

He spared a swift glance from one end of the corridor to the other. It was still deserted. Satisfied, he stepped forwards into the expansive room in front of him, shutting the door quietly as he did so.

He was met with the familiar warm-glow lighting which accompanied the extensive laboratory; test tubes and beakers set up here and there, some filled with smoking dark liquids, others clear, and the remainder brimming with chemicals coloured in deep and vibrant hues.

A saddened smile passed Grimmjow's lips as he continued past the metal tables. He knew that something was deeply troubling his long-time friend and partner if the equipment was set up, but not being attended to.

It was a habit of his. He went to the trouble of setting up only to abandon the project for the sake of something to do to keep him occupied when he was mulling over thoughts which had him exasperated.

It was a wonder his scientific mind was allowed any chance for rest half of the time.

Turning the corner at the end of rows of recording equipment, Grimmjow halted as he saw the man resting his hands against a desk facing a set of monitors, head bowed and his eyes unfocused on the data in front of him.

"What should we do?"

The man lifted his head as he heard the other speak, and he straightened up to gaze at the Sexta who was observing him by one of the tables. A tired smile passed his lips, his delicate features strained into a look of heavy contemplation under his glasses, his slim form turning to face the other fully as he approached.

"I don't know," Szayel responded with a heavy sigh, strands of his bubble gum coloured hair falling over his eyes as he shook his head.

Grimmjow nodded, the two of them knowing only far too well that Aizen would betray everyone the moment he gained the upper hand in this war. Including the boy, if he managed to get his hands on him.

"Maybe we should tell the others. The rest of 'em deserve to know what that bastard is planning on doing," Grimmjow suggested, his words laced with a heavy bite of fury.

Szayel's lips curved into a softened smile at his partner's bold tenacity before he shook his head.

"No… not yet, anyway. We would need proof – proof which Aizen is not likely to give us, somehow."

Grimmjow snorted in annoyance. It was useless. Szayel was right.

"But we can't just sit back here and wait for him to fuck us over and use the kid," he retorted quietly.

Szayel's gaze sharpened – that boy was the very object of his preoccupied thoughts before the blue haired male had arrived.

"No, indeed we cannot. But even if we _did _try to intervene somehow to ensure that Kurosaki Ichigo never makes it here, it would still spell nothing but ruin. Either way, Aizen will have him. That's how things have always been. The best we can hope for Grimmjow, I think, is to ensure that we look after the boy when he arrives. Which, he will – whether willingly or by force, I don't know… he is a substitute shinigami though, yes?"

Grimmjow nodded.

"Then if that is the case, he would still have some loyalty towards Soul Society. He knows of Aizen, surely. So if he was to come here, it would be to find some means of helping bring about his downfall. I intend to fully make sure that happens. I will even help him," Szayel concluded, his tone focused and clear, full of intent.

A widened smile broke out on Grimmjow's face, his bright blue eyes alight with a look of mixed pride and the joy that was akin to a fight.

"I hope that by 'I', you were actually referring to 'we'?"

Szayel chuckled.

"I was, Grimmjow. I know you feel the same about this matter."

"Yeah…" the smile lessened on the taller man's face and he sighed again, his eyes locking onto Szayel's golden irises.

"And Kurosaki?"

The Octava lowered his gaze to one of the tables, a dark clouded look passing his face for a moment.

"Aizen should never have set his eyes on that boy," he answered softly, a tone of malice in his normally melodic voice.

Grimmjow's eyes narrowed.

"No… he shouldn't have."

Their decision had been made – unvoiced yet both still hearing the meaning in the short silence that followed. This boy was undoubtedly special, and the pair would do all they could for him. Though some silent, deep part of themselves wondered if it was because they wanted him for their own, no matter how fleeting a time before Soul Society inevitably came looking for him to take him away.

The silence continued until Grimmjow reached out a hand and carefully tucked away a strand of loose hair which had fallen back across Szayel's right eye. The slighter man blinked and re-emerged from his thoughts, a faint smile passing his lips as he did so, leaning his head slightly into the warm touch of the other male.

"I should get back to work," he murmured quietly after a while.

Grimmjow nodded, withdrawing his hand and making to head off, before turning his head and eyeing the Octava.

"Will you be alright?" he asked.

It wasn't so much of a question directed towards the younger man's wellbeing – the Sexta knew that the other would be perfectly fine here. It was a question directed to the current situation as a whole.

Szayel nodded, understanding the full meaning of the taller man's inquiry.

Grimmjow allowed a small smile to grace his lips, before he turned around and the echoes of his footsteps faded soon after. Szayel continued to stand there for a moment, chewing his lip in thought. A soft sigh left his throat before he redirected his attention back to the data monitors.

* * *

It was strange how something so serene and promising could change in the flicker of a second, morphing into that which inspired dread and a foreboding omen.

That was the feeling Kurosaki Ichigo held as he continued to gaze into the blue depths of the sky above him. The sun was shining, white clouds floating on a gentle, lazy breeze – children's laughter filling the air as they prepared for another day of school.

Yet the eighteen year old could not shake the heavy feeling the sky brought him this morning.

Looking down at the windowsill he was gripping tightly with his hands, he stepped back from the window, drawing it closed. He turned his gaze to his room, brown eyes locked deep in thought.

_This feeling… _

It was akin to the lulling calm before the imminent storm. It had only been a few months since Aizen had fled to Hueco Mundo – and in those few months, nothing, not one thing, had been done by Soul Society to help prevent further destruction. The destruction the teenager _knew _would hit home on both sides.

Anger raged in his gut as he punched his fist into the nearby wall, not even wincing as flesh was scraped off of his knuckles with the force of the blow.

No one had been to inform him.

Not Rukia, not Renji, not Toushirou or Matsumoto – no one.

When questioning the petite woman whenever she _did _spare time to inspect the town, Rukia's responses had always been the same.

"_Yamamoto-soutaichou dono wants us to wait and see. It's too early for us to act yet, Ichigo." _

The orange haired youth snorted.

Bullshit.

Aizen was already starting his first wave of attack, and they knew it. They didn't want the substitute shinigami to get in the way.

But what angered him the most, was that he was being ignored, left out – cast aside like he was nothing. After all he had done for that fucking place, too.

It cut him right to the heart how Ishida, Inoue and Chad seemed to be too quiet lately around him. They had obviously been informed by Soul Society about what was to happen. But, like the 'good little soldiers' they had suddenly become, they merely shrugged it off when Ichigo questioned them. They acted as if nothing had happened at all.

Even that lecherous little hat and clog wearing shopkeeper, Urahara, had been unusually tame as of late.

It was becoming so much that Ichigo often had more than half a mind to scream out at Soul Society and his friends with a Getsuga Tenshou if that was what it took to make them see sense.

Goddammit, he would _not _be tossed aside so easily.

So for the treatment he had received, he gave back just as good as he got. He began cutting himself off from the others, not bothering to answer their concerned questions or calls. If he was to be treated as nothing, then so be it. They would also be seen as nothing to him in return.

A cautious knock on his door made him snap his head up to gaze at the form of his little sister Karin standing there, shaking slightly and looking pale.

"Ichi-nii… are you… ok?"

It took less than a second for Ichigo to realise that through his anger, he had been pulsing reiatsu and blanketing the house with its dense wrath. Karin was exceptionally sensitive to this – she could, after all, see ghosts just like her older brother. She knew of him being a shinigami.

Ichigo quickly tried his best to calm himself down, judging he had held back enough when Karin's shoulders ceased trembling.

"Yeah… I'm sorry, Karin…" he whispered, striding forwards and wrapping his arms around the slender form of his little sister. Karin quickly wrapped her slight arms around him in return, burying her head against her brother's chest, shutting her eyes. Ichigo's heart gave a painful wrench as he saw how much he had hurt her.

"The sky's too heavy today… please… please be careful, Ichi-nii," Karin implored shakily, her voice quiet to even her own ears.

Ichigo picked her up in his arms, holding her close as he began walking out of his room, making his way downstairs to the kitchen from where he could already hear Yuzu beginning the preparations for today's breakfast.

"I will, Karin… I promise," he answered, gently setting her down once he had reached the foot of the stairs. Karin wiped her eyes with the back of her hand, taking in a deep breath, and causing Ichigo's heart to jolt in regret once more. She never cried.

She managed to smile slightly in response, before turning around and making her way to the table to begin setting it up.

Ichigo sighed heavily as he watched her walk off, his hands clenching by his sides. This war would be the death of him, he realised. Not the war with Aizen, but his own personal war with Soul Society.

Letting these troubling thoughts slide for the meantime as Yuzu turned to greet her older brother and twin sister with a cheerful smile, Ichigo sat down at the table to begin his breakfast.

* * *

The garganta ripped through the heavens with a tearing strain, the humans below oblivious to the pitch-black gateway which had sundered across the sky.

Two figures emerged forward from the darkened pits surrounding them, stepping forth into the sunlit World of the Living, marvelling silently at the colours, sights, sounds and smells.

"Looks a lot different from when I was 'ere last," a deep, grumbling voice spoke up as the build of a tall, heavyset male observed the rows of cars and people below.

It had been some hundreds of years ago that he was last human.

"We are not here to waste idle time on meaningless chatter," a cold, emotionless voice responded, the slighter, leaner figure of a pale-skinned black haired male emerging to stand next to the other. Emerald green slitted eyes focused back and forth on the land, as though searching for something.

"Che, yer always were a little shit for details, Ulquiorra," the large man grumbled.

The man named Ulquiorra slowly turned his unblinking gaze towards the crass male.

"Our mission is to locate Kurosaki Ichigo, and speak with him concerning Aizen-sama's wishes. You would do well to remember your place, Yammy," he spoke quietly, his monotonous voice revealing a threat deep within.

Yammy scoffed, hulking forwards and crossing his meaty arms over his humongous chest.

"Alrigh' then. So where is he?"

Ulquiorra continued to stride forwards, his eyes resuming their searching of the housing and people below.

"He will come to us. We shall wait here until he does so."

Another scoffed grumble was his sign of acknowledgement.

* * *

Tedious.

That was the one word which Ichigo could use to sum up those six hours of school, all day, every day over the week.

Even the weekends had gained that title.

The same dreariness of living and yet not being able to do _anything _to fight, to help, gnawed at him endlessly from the moment he opened his eyes, till the moment he shut them for sleep. That, and the boding feeling of heaviness from this morning still ever-present in the air, did nothing to help ease his mood as he began making his way back home in the late afternoon.

"Kurosaki-kun!"

"Ichigo!"

"Kurosaki!"

He ignored his friends' cries. He wanted to be left alone. After all, why should he bother to listen to them when they had shut him out as effectively as he was shutting himself away from the world? He was always under the impression that friendship meant sharing everything, from the good to the bad. Apparently, he was wrong.

It was a means to get stabbed in the back like a cold, hard blade.

Ichigo found himself preferring the latter. At least, the majority of the time, that wound was able to heal.

Speeding his strides so his legs could carry him away from the annoying rabble faster, he turned the street corner, leaving Ishida, Orihime and Chad behind with stunned and pained expressions on their faces.

He didn't care.

In fact he didn't care about anything anymore. All he wanted was to end Aizen and shove a big 'screw you' in Soul Society's face.

He would _not _be treated as useless garbage.

He would make them all become very aware of that fact.

Ichigo didn't even care that his reiatsu was pulsing in ebbing waves. Let the Hollows come. He would tear through them all.

He was rather surprised when he turned the next street corner and looked up, only to find himself coming face-to-face with two men.

The teen's brown eyes narrowed slightly as they lowered to see a perfect circular hole adorning the duo's bodies.

No. Not men.

Arrancar.

"Kurosaki Ichigo. We knew you would meet us here," one of them spoke in a quiet monotone – the smaller, slender male with the pale white skin, ebony locks half-hidden underneath a jagged horned mask resting along the left side of his head, his slitted emerald green eyes made pronounced by teal tear tracks running down his cheeks.

The other Arrancar, a tall, wide male with a half-mask on his jaw, his hair tied back behind his head, looked on with no real interest in his beady eyes.

"Oh yeah? What do you want? How do you know my name?" Ichigo asked with weary caution, not in the mood for this right now.

The only thing that had stopped him from reaching for his combat pass was the fact that these two had not made any move toward him which signified they wished to fight. Rather, they appeared only to desire to speak with him.

The orange haired teen had no doubt that these were the two from this morning which had accompanied the feeling of dread he had experienced.

"How we know of you is irrelevant, Kurosaki Ichigo. As to what we want however, we are only here to deliver a message," the pale skinned male continued.

Ichigo snorted.

"From who? Aizen?" he asked, a smile which lacked any emotion whatsoever passing his lips.

The slender man remained silent, confirming Ichigo's question.

The youth sighed.

"What does he want?"

"He wishes to extend his hospitality towards you, Kurosaki Ichigo. I and my associate here, have been sent to find you and impart with you these words. He knows of your Hollow powers, and of your recent struggles with Soul Society. They are holding back on you, singling you out in the hopes that you will back down. You are a waste of their time and resources. Even your so-called 'friends' have forsaken you. Is this not the case?"

Ichigo's jaw clenched as those hated words passed the seemingly emotionless male's lips. His hand tightened by his side.

"Tell me," he managed to bite out, barely keeping a reign on his growing reiatsu, "why should I go join with him, which I assume is what you're saying behind the lines here, when he is going to destroy all three of our worlds within the blink of an eye?"

The beefy-looking male finally turned his attention back to the two in front of him, now listening with full intent.

If the slighter, pale skinned male held any reaction to Ichigo's words, he didn't show it outwardly. But Ichigo noted with slight satisfaction that the man took a moment longer in replying.

"He believes that in due time, you will make the right choice."

Ichigo scoffed.

"I see," he smirked.

"We will come back tomorrow evening," the cold male continued, turning around and reaching out his hand to open a garganta in front of him and his comrade; the air once more becoming heavy with the pull of reiatsu around the deathly black of the leviathan hole in the street.

As he stepped forth, his head turned to gaze unblinkingly at Ichigo out of the corner of his emerald green eyes.

"When we do, you will come with us."

And with that, the void closed, leaving Ichigo once more alone on the street, the stone-like male's parting words filling the air with more threat than the garganta had.

All was silent for a moment which seemed to last a lifetime.

Ichigo felt himself seething with anger at what the unusual male had said. But what sickened the orange haired youth to the core was that he had found some truth in those words.

Taking a deep breath, he gripped his forehead with his shaking hand and continued forwards towards his home, that brief encounter leaving a turbulent mess within his mind.

_The last thing he would ever do would be to join up with the likes of Aizen. _

_Soul Society were biding their time – falsifying a façade of uncertainty as to what Aizen was planning on doing, and keeping Ichigo from their affairs._

_His friends had been made aware. They had been persuaded to leave Ichigo out of this. _

_They knew that Ichigo would be the only one to stop Aizen. He was not under the effect of the man's Kyouka Suigetsu. _

_Aizen wanted Ichigo because of his Hollow powers – without a doubt, the treacherous male would teach Ichigo how to better control his powers as a bribe in order to win him over fully to his cause. _

_Those two Arrancar also knew Aizen's true intentions – being quite sharp at reading other's faces, Ichigo had seen that brief moment of rage and indignation at the mention of Aizen destroying not only the World of the Living and Soul Society, but Hueco Mundo as well. _

_He had been left alone, the only one willing to fight to bring down the tyrant once and for all. Everyone had abandoned him. Treated him like trash. _

As these thoughts flew through Ichigo's brain, the youth found that as he glanced up at the sign blazing 'Kurosaki Clinic' in white katakana and kanji upon the front of his home, he had come to a decision.

If he couldn't beat him like this, he would join him.

Only then would he have some chance to truly end the fight.

* * *

**A/N: Alright... second chapter... FINISHED! Hooray xD Um... I felt that I should make it clear in a sort of not-so-subtle way that Grimmjow and Szayel are already together. I mean, I just thought it would make the whole eventual Szayel/Ichi/Grimm thing work a bit better. I hope that doesn't upset anyone... *hides behind my bed***

**Don't forget to drop me a review or a PM if you liked it :D See you next time!**


	3. Into the Devil's Maw

**A/N: Aaaand we're back for the third instalment! Sorry if it took a while for me to update. I've been busy this past week :/**

**MAJOR OOC-NESS FROM HERE-ON OUT! ... You have been warned. **

**Also, a HUUUGE thank you to Tsume Daitaro for helping me with the issue of Ichigo's human body. As promised Tsume Daitaro-san, I have endeavoured to fix this. Thank you so much again for your advice :D *bows***

* * *

**Chapter 3: Into the Devil's Maw**

"Onii-chan, you haven't touched your dinner… is something wrong?"

Ichigo lifted his head to fix his gaze upon the soft brown eyes of his sister Yuzu, who was watching him with an expression of uncertainty and worry. Dinner had already been placed down on the table, and everyone had begun eating. Except for him.

"What? Oh no, I'm fine Yuzu. Just not very hungry right now is all," he shrugged, managing an easy smile.

This caused her to form a small 'o' shape with her mouth before she smiled in understanding.

"That's ok, onii-chan. I can heat up your food for later if you want it then, alright?"

Ichigo smiled a little more.

"Yeah, that'd be great. Thanks, Yuzu."

And with that, he sat up and began to make his way to his room.

As he departed, Karin and the father of the boy and girls, Kurosaki Isshin, watched Ichigo's retreating form. Karin was only far too aware of the somewhat changed mood of Ichigo's from the time he had returned home yesterday afternoon, all up until now at dinner.

Something had happened to make him act this way.

Isshin sipped at a glass of water, sighing internally as he knew the cause of this sudden attitude. He had even stopped his usual antics around the house of terrorising his son because of this.

He had pulled Ichigo aside just before dinner, his face serious in this rare time when he meant business by what he was saying.

"_Ichigo, do whatever you think is right. I am, and have always been, so proud of you. No matter what." _

His son had given a faint smile in response.

"_Yeah… thanks dad. You'll look after Karin and Yuzu?"_

"_Yeah, I will. Don't worry about us."_

"… _Thank you."_

He hadn't told Karin or Yuzu where he was going, and Isshin knew that it would be better for all of them if they didn't know. So he had kept to his son's desires and told his daughters that their elder brother would be staying out of town with some friends for a while.

He didn't say how long for, because even he didn't know what would happen as soon as Ichigo left.

Isshin allowed a faint smile to cross his lips as he drained the rest of his water, replacing the now-empty glass back on the table.

_Ichigo… good luck. _

* * *

Sprawled out on his bed, already in his shinigami form, Ichigo gazed unseeingly at the ceiling, waiting.

The window was left open on purpose.

He didn't react to anything, not even at Kon who had begun fussing around about being unceremoniously flung into the closet, the mod soul raging and banging against the doors which were slid to in front of him. Ichigo had only spared a brief look at the lion before murmuring a quiet "take my body to Urahara-san", then he had tossed the animal into the wardrobe when he had begun protesting.

The sound of the alarm clock ticking away next to his ear went as unnoticed as anything else. The orange haired teen was too deep in his thoughts about what he was doing to even waste a single second's glance towards other matters.

No one would know where he went.

He hadn't told anyone.

They would come looking for him, and he wouldn't be there.

And that was fine by him.

As if on cue to only intensify the overall gloomy depression of these inner musings, the tell-tale familiar ripping of one dimension opening into another sounded from outside, bringing with it the same sense of foreboding as the sky was torn apart by a blackened void.

Ichigo didn't need to sit up or shift his gaze to find out what lay await in the night. He already knew.

They had come for him.

Giving an empty smile at the irony of the situation, those two from yesterday afternoon appearing tonight to await for Ichigo, who would willingly accept just as the emotionless Arrancar had told him, the youth huffed out a sigh and slowly sat up, readjusting his zanpakutou against his back.

He turned his gaze to the window, not even bothering to send a last glance back at his house as he stepped outside.

Sure enough, in front of the opened garganta, the heavyset taller male and the slender pale skinned man were stationed and ready for him, gazing at him intently.

"Whether you resist or not, does not matter in the slightest, Kurosaki Ichigo. You are coming with us. I told you we would be back for you," the familiar monotonous drawl of the green eyed male announced.

Ichigo gave an empty scoff.

"So you've said before. Well you Arrancar don't have to worry. I'm coming. Just cut the crap and let's go already, before I regret my decision."

The taller Arrancar grunted in amusement, while Ichigo noted the pale man's heavy eyes widen only the slightest fraction in response to Ichigo's bold statement, before resettling as he turned around.

"Good. Follow us."

Ichigo fell into step behind the slightly shorter male, his eyes narrowing and his fists clenching, his heart racing inside his chest as he became engulfed by the shimmering black around him. The garganta closed behind the taller Arrancar as he shuffled up behind Ichigo; the next second, the World of the Living was completely shut out, the darkness seeming to swallow them whole.

* * *

After what seemed hours, though in reality was only mere minutes, the void in front of them reformed and opened up to reveal an extensive high ceilinged room; the walls glistening with the reflections of the dark floor.

Shielding his eyes momentarily to blink away the sharp glare that assaulted him from the time in near complete darkness, Ichigo took a moment to observe what appeared to be a main hall of some description within Las Noches.

The room was surprisingly warm, even though everything about the location screamed cold and unwelcoming.

"Aizen-sama, we have returned with the boy."

"Ah, excellent news Ulquiorra. I knew I could count on you."

Ichigo froze when he heard that hated, oily voice, bringing his attention back to the centre of the room, the pale man in front of him – the one called Ulquiorra – bowing before turning to the side to take a place in a line of four others whom Ichigo did not notice standing there until now, having been focused on the glare instead.

The giant-like Arrancar behind him grunted and formed what seemingly was a bow of his own, before shuffling over to the opposite line of another four figures.

_Ten of them_, Ichigo noted, briefly sweeping his gaze over each and every one of them in turn.

_They must be his elite warriors. _

A flash of bubble gum pink and a shock of wild blue caught his eye momentarily from the assembled ten, but he was prevented from taking proper notice as the man responsible for all of this rose from the white throne he had been seated in.

"Welcome, Ichigo-kun. I trust your journey here was not too unpleasant?"

Ichigo bristled as that oily, ingratiating voice cut through the air again, making his skin crawl in repulsion, and he forced an indifferent gaze upon his face as he lifted his eyes to find none other than Aizen Sousuke himself standing at the top of a set of stairs leading up from the centre of the room.

He was dressed in a white garb which was similar to that of the clothing the ten others lined along either side of the walls were.

Ichigo said nothing – the mere thought of speaking to that man repulsed him.

Aizen merely smirked, chuckling. His deep voice seemed to reverberate around the hall.

"You are unharmed, which is good. I believe Ulquiorra has already told you why I wish you to be here?"

Ichigo's jaw clenched as he forced himself to relax. He had to go along with this for now. If he had any chance of defeating Aizen, he needed to gain the man's trust. It would not be easy, but he would strive to appear as if he really had rejected Soul Society.

Which he had.

"Yes, he did," he replied.

Aizen nodded, seeming satisfied with this.

"That is most pleasing. I believe that we can go about righting all the wrongs that Soul Society has thrust upon us. Your coming here, Ichigo, has been somewhat of a beacon of light to me. I know how much you have suffered from their lies to you. How your friends have turned on you. No one really understands you, Ichigo. Or so you thought. You will find powerful allies here, I think. We will not lie to you, or betray you. I can see by the look in your eyes that you are sceptical of me – that is a very wise decision. After all, I am not to be trusted."

His smirk widened as he eyed Ichigo's uncomfortable expression.

"But given time, you will learn that even those whom you must be most guarded around, will prove to be more valuable to you than you realised. Your inner Hollow, for instance. Though you have been managing by yourself well, there are still times when your control slips. We can allow you to gain full mastery over that beast within you. Your powers are of great interest to me, Ichigo. I will not lie to you as I shall say that that is indeed what has made me wish for you to be here. Of course you will be an excellent soldier in my army. Perhaps by showing Soul Society and the Gotei 13 how much power you truly do possess, when I am defeated and in turn killed by your hand, they shall see the error of their ways."

At this, Ichigo's eyes widened, and he let out an involuntary stutter.

Aizen laughed, the sound deep and rumbling.

Evil.

"Do not take me for some naïve man, Ichigo. I have lived for centuries. I know infinitely more than you. It does not take much for a genius such as myself to be able to look into your eyes and discover the only reason you allowed yourself to come here willingly was so you could gain my trust, leaving me wide open to attack. Although, that boldness is something lacking here as of late. You intrigue me, Ichigo. I am glad of your resolve to come here, knowing that once you crossed the garganta, there would be no going back. I look forward to seeing how much you progress with us in the future."

That smirk never left his lips as Ichigo began shivering from where he was still standing a few feet away from the staircase. He felt all hope fade away as the shinigami traitor continued with his speech. He should have known that Aizen would see through the weak façade Ichigo had put up. He clenched his hands, taking deep breaths.

He could not go back now.

That was one thing he agreed with the traitor on.

Aizen stepped forwards, beginning to descend down the stairs, his hands raised out in a gesture of welcome.

"Ichigo… allow me to introduce you to the Espada. Your new brothers and sisters."

From those words alone, Ichigo felt as if somewhere an invisible hand had reached out and branded him with a mark – he hated that man and everything he stood for. Now, he had been roped in and fooled into joining him, only to become a part of that which he swore he would destroy. He knew that when Soul Society found out about this, which they undoubtedly would, he would also be ranked as a traitor.

Strangely though, that thought didn't seem to stir any form of emotion within him whatsoever.

Let them come. He would still find a way to defeat Aizen.

He had to.

Smirking at the orange haired boy, Aizen now stood at the foot of the stairs, his left hand still raised and motioning to the line of five people on his left-hand side.

"Coyote Starrk, Primera—"

A tall man with brown shoulder-length hair nodded towards Ichigo's general direction, his pale blue eyes lidded in an appearance of someone who was ready to fall asleep on their feet.

"—Baraggan Louisenbairn, Segunda—"

The shortest of the ten, an ancient-looking portly man gave no acknowledgement that the teenager even existed.

"—Tier Harribel, Tercera—"

The only female of the group, the blonde haired, dark skinned woman swept her gaze to stare calculatingly at the orange haired youth.

"—Ulquiorra Cifer, our Cuarto, whom you will no doubt be familiar with—"

Ulquiorra continued to stare unblinkingly at the opposite wall – his mission to search for the boy now having been completed, he saw no need to further interact with him.

"—next, our Quinto, Nnoitra Gilga—"

Standing on average around seven feet, the lanky form of the Quinto Espada turned his gaze to inspect the boy – Ichigo had the feeling that he was being sized up for what his worth would be in battle. Ichigo narrowed his eyes as he noted the eye patch covering one side of the tall black haired man's face – he reminded the youth of the battle-hungry captain of the Gotei 13's 11th Division, Zaraki Kenpachi. A man whom Ichigo would like to be least reminded of on more than one occasion.

Having introduced the first five of the ten, Aizen extended his hand out towards the right-hand side of the wall, indicating the remaining group.

"—our Sexta, Grimmjow Jaegerjaquez—"

Ichigo's gaze was steady as he saw the Sexta eye him carefully. His hair was a wild unruly blue shade – the same blue that had caught the youth's eye beforehand. The man nodded his head in acknowledgment of the newcomer before him, his cyan eyes never once leaving the warm brown of the orange haired teen's. Ichigo nodded in return.

A slight jerk of the man's head to indicate one of the corridors leading out of the hallway indicated that he wished to speak to the youth after the introductions were over and done with.

Ichigo, seeing that he might as well use this opportunity to get some information on the place, inclined his head in silent agreement.

"—Séptima, Zommari Rereaux—"

A dark skinned male opened his eyes to glance at the boy, before closing his lids once again after having exchanged a small nod.

"—Octava, Szayelaporro Granz—"

Here, Ichigo paused longer once more as his gaze fell upon the slender male, his features delicate and golden eyes framed by white glasses. His hair was an unusual shade of bubble gum pink – this was the other person who had captured Ichigo's attention previously.

The introduced Octava Espada gave a slight smile at Ichigo, who was immediately driven to return it.

"—Noveno, Aaroniero Arruruerie—"

Ichigo felt his eyes widen as he saw what appeared to be a man, but with an elongated head shaped similar to a tube framed by some sort of mask.

"—and our final, Décima Espada Yammy Llargo, whom you also will be quite familiar with," Aizen concluded, making his way back up the staircase again as Ichigo turned his gaze to the beefy figure of the other Arrancar who had been ordered to search for him alongside Ulquiorra.

"Get to know them, Ichigo-kun. These ten are your new family."

Ichigo lifted his gaze to stare hardly back at Aizen, who had settled himself back in the throne atop the staircase. A warm smile greeted his lips, causing Ichigo to narrow his eyes in even more dislike.

A resounding chuckle was his response.

"As I said, I look forward to seeing how you progress with us. But most importantly, Soul Society does as well. It would be wise to remember that. After all, that hatred is what brought you to me, my dear boy. Never forget that," Aizen's smirk drew wider as he eyed Ichigo's hands clenching up yet again.

"You are all dismissed."

With that, the lines fell away as the gathered ten dispersed.

The only thing running through Ichigo's mind was how he could use this situation to his advantage, to finish off that hated tyrant once and for all, no matter if he could see through the boy's every move or not.

Then, it would be Soul Society who would beg for forgiveness for shutting the orange haired teen out.

* * *

He could barely contain the smug grin of success as he returned to the balcony overlooking the ever-present crescent moon of Hueco Mundo – its pale light providing the only means of illumination over the rolling grey sand dunes below.

The landscape was dead, but suddenly everything seemed much more alive.

Getting the boy here was easier than previously anticipated – Aizen could not help but thank Yamamoto Genryuusai's stupidity once more in closing Soul Society off from Kurosaki, making him easier to capture and manipulate.

He chuckled as he raised the warm cup of tea to his lips, enjoying the heat of the beverage as it went down his throat.

"I almost can't believe it," a flippant voice spoke up from somewhere behind him.

Aizen did not remove his gaze from the moon overhead.

"Believe what, Gin?" he asked calmly.

Gin stepped up towards the balcony, his smile never once leaving his face.

"Yer managed ter get the boy 'ere an' everythin'… it almost pains me ter think what his family will say about this."

Aizen took another sip of his tea.

"Yes, it will be quite amusing."

"'O course you'll be informin' Soul Society of this, Aizen-taichou?"

Another smirk drew across the shinigami traitor's lips.

"Indeed I will. It shall be most intriguing to see how they will react to this situation. I do believe our work is cut out for us."

"What's yer vision fer the boy, anyway?" Gin asked after a moment of silence, all traces of his joking nature gone as his tone became serious.

"I believe Gin, that you shall discover that when the time comes."

"Oh? Is tha' so?"

"Indeed."

* * *

Running his hands over his eyes, Ichigo allowed himself a few minutes of silence to try and clear his head to the best of his ability given the current circumstances.

He had located the room in which he would be staying, though he was loathe to call it 'his' room.

Dark coloured walls – an off teal colour – surrounded him, along with a medium sized bed wrapped in black sheets. A green leather couch sat alongside the opposite wall, with a rectangular glass table situated on the carpet which was a slightly lighter shade than the wall colouring. He had an adjoined bathroom, filled with the basic amenities, as well as a surprisingly roomy shower and bathtub. But, he supposed the nicest part of this new accommodation was the balcony overlooking the dusty midnight plains of the outside land of Hueco Mundo.

Gazing at the glow of the moon above, Ichigo moved forward to rest his hands on the balcony railing, gripping it gently as a steady breeze brushed past his face. He did not have the pleasure of a balcony back home in Karakura Town, so he quietly admitted that this was actually not entirely bad. He had never really stopped to study the moon before, so now, in these few moments, he allowed some time to gaze at the caressing rays of silver above him.

Nothing seemed to move in the seemingly dead plains below.

_How can they live in this place? _he found himself wondering, as his thoughts turned to the Hollows which inhabited Hueco Mundo, including the residents of Las Noches.

"Is everything alright here?"

Ichigo was startled out of his reverie by the soft, almost melodic voice which had just spoken from somewhere behind him. He turned, only to find himself gazing at the pink-haired man from a short while ago. Movement behind him drew the orange haired boy's attention to the taller blue-haired male entering the room behind the other.

The latter motioned wordlessly if it was alright for him to close the door. At a loss for what was happening for the minute, Ichigo merely blinked and nodded, stunned. The blue-haired man pulled the door shut, walking up and standing alongside the slighter figure of the pink-haired male.

Ichigo cleared his throat with some feeling of awkwardness.

_What's going on?_

"Uh… yeah, things are fine I guess," he began somewhat lamely, completely at a loss for what he should do. The slighter male nodded, taking a look around the room Ichigo had been given – golden eyes under white glasses scrutinising the walls and furniture.

"Sorry for barging in on ya like this, but we just thought we should introduce ourselves again," the blue-haired man spoke up, his voice rough and deeper than the other's – his appearance, from the jaw-like mask on his right cheek, down to his wild features – his teal eye markings and exposed chest under his short-sleeved jacket, the Hollow hole situated mid-distance above his pelvis line – reminding Ichigo somewhat of a predatory animal almost. Feline, perhaps.

He turned his brown eyes towards the shorter male briefly, watching as delicate features framed by his unusual hair shade as locks brushed over the skin of his cheek continued observing his room. The golden irises of his eyes gave him a deeply intelligent and perceptive air, which suited his slight figure – he was well groomed and Ichigo had no doubt that he could be just as much a threat as he could be charming.

Something about him, whether it be the glasses settling over the bridge of his nose, or his academic vibe, said to Ichigo that he could be an intellectual of some sorts – perhaps science.

The more he regarded them, the more Ichigo noted that the two were quite attractive – each also bearing a particular feeling about them which defined their personality somewhat. It sparked something deep down inside of him, making his stomach flip in response, but he quickly pushed it aside.

"No, that's alright. Did you… want to sit down or something?" Ichigo replied, rubbing the back of his neck nervously. Even though they seemed amiable enough, he couldn't be too careful. He _was _in enemy territory after all, even though he had ended up coming here upon invitation – forced invitation maybe, yet it was still his choice to accept.

The two nodded, making to sit down on the couch that was against the wall. The orange haired male tried to ignore the two pairs of eyes which were trained as intently on him as they were when he had first seen them standing in the main hall. Try as he might, he found he couldn't easily look away from deep gold and cyan blue.

The short silence was broken, somewhat thankfully, by the wild blue-haired male.

"So… Kurosaki Ichigo, yeah?"

Ichigo nodded.

"I'd prefer 'Ichigo' though. I don't really like full names that much."

"Fair enough," the taller man responded with a grin – a grin which, Ichigo noted, showed a prominent set of teeth, the incisors reminiscent to that of a cats'.

"Name's Grimmjow," he continued, jabbing his thumb at himself. Ichigo could almost chuckle as he was reminded of one of the brash, punk-type street guys from some 80s film.

"Szayelaporro," the slighter male added, introducing himself; his golden eyes continued to eye the orange haired youth in front of him as he reclined back against the couch a little more, crossing a leg over the other and twining his hands together.

"Right… you're Espadas… six and eight… yes?" Ichigo asked, wondering if he had gotten the numerals correct. He was not altogether familiar with Spanish names.

The two nodded.

"Well, thanks for… introducing yourselves, I guess…"

Grimmjow chuckled, the sound deep to match his voice.

"You don't have to try so hard kid, we know it's not exactly easy being thrown into a situation like what you were," he spoke up.

Ichigo gave a relieved laugh, rubbing the back of his neck again.

"Yeah… no shit…"

"We thought it would be best if we showed you around and gave you our knowledge of the place. We think that you can do some good around here, Ichigo," Szayelaporro spoke up quietly, his lighter tone of voice drawing Ichigo's attention to him as the pink-haired man leaned forwards a little.

Ichigo's eyes narrowed.

"What do you mean?"

"We're gonna take you under our wing, so to speak. We know why you came here, Ichigo. Fuck, _everyone _knows since Aizen told us all during that meeting. I think it's safe enough to say that even though we barely know you, and we're considered to be the 'enemies', you'll listen to us. You help us, we help you kind of deal. You follow me?" Grimmjow answered.

There was a slight pause.

"Yeah, I follow… but… why? Why would you willingly go against Aizen? Frankly I'm…"

"Surprised that two of his own are aiming to see him got rid of?" Szayel offered.

Ichigo nodded.

The pink-haired male sighed, running a hand through his locks in order to flip a stray strand of hair out of his eyes.

"It's a long story," he murmured quietly.

"I have time."

A slight grin formed on the Octava's lips.

"You may, but we don't. Aizen has monitors surrounding this entire palace. He observes our every movement and records to make sure none of us openly conspire against him. I was able to deactivate the system within this room, but even then it will only be for a short period of time. He doesn't trust any of us – just like the majority of us don't trust him in return."

More confusion formed in the teenager's eyes.

"Why? I mean… no offense, but aren't you supposed to be… I dunno… faithful soldiers?"

"Tell me somethin' Ichigo," Grimmjow muttered, the orange haired youth turning to look at him and locking brown eyes with bright blue, "what would you do if your home was suddenly invaded?"

Understanding flickered in the youth's face, before an empty smile formed on his lips.

"The same thing you're doing."

Grimmjow grunted and nodded his head, satisfied with this answer.

The kid was sharp. He liked him.

He turned his gaze to his partner sitting next to him – he could tell a similar thought was emerging from the golden-eyed male as he too studied the boy standing before them.

"Aizen is a liar and a murderer. His tyranny is what has been forcing us to pay homage to him like he's some kind of god. We bow to no one, yet he's taken all that we have and turned it into something to further his own ends. He'll kill you, Ichigo. And he'll get rid of us the moment he makes that Key," Szayel spoke up, his voice bitter as his brows pulled forth into a dark scowl.

"… I know," Ichigo responded in a half-whisper, looking out of the window to the crescent moon.

"I came here thinking I could defeat him by gaining his trust. What he said about Soul Society and those I thought were my friends – people I cared about – was true. Whenever I think of them, my blood rages and I want to see them suffer for treating me the way they did. But most of all I want to see _him _dead."

He didn't know why he was revealing this to these two he hardly knew. Hell, he didn't know his reason for a lot of things.

There was silence for a few moments as Szayel and Grimmjow gazed at the young man standing in front of them.

"Revenge, eh?" Grimmjow inquired.

Ichigo nodded.

The two on the couch exchanged another look – they saw the angered pain in the boy's brown eyes. They knew that he had been burdened with things which he should never have had to bear. This only strengthened their unspoken resolve to aid him any way they could.

"We'll help you," Szayel said softly, making to stand up. Grimmjow followed suit, his taller form seeming to compliment the slighter figure of the Octava as Ichigo observed them move.

"… Thank you…" he could only manage after a moment of shocked silence.

Why these two were being so… nice… to him, he didn't know. But what Ichigo did know was that their experiences and his didn't really differ so much in the end – all three of them were just pawns in Aizen's twisted game of chess no matter what.

For the first time in a long time, Ichigo felt as if he could find true friendship.

The only irony being that they were from the other side of the war.

A soft graceful smile passed over Szayel's lips, whilst that near manic grin from before spread over Grimmjow's.

"We have to go before Aizen suspects somethin'. See ya tomorrow, Berry," Grimmjow waved as he turned to head out of the room.

Ichigo allowed a scoff to leave his throat, earning an even wider grin from the Sexta.

Szayel sniffed a little as he waited near the door, sharing a parting glance with the orange haired teen before turning back around and heading out.

As the two departed, Ichigo couldn't help but find his memory focused on two numbers he had seen. A large, gothic looking '6' was seemingly tattooed along Grimmjow's back just above the Hollow hole through his midsection, the tail of his jacket picking up with the slight breeze as he walked past allowing Ichigo a view of the brand which named him among the Espada.

The flick of Szayel's hair over his shoulder by his hand parted the pink strands along the base of his neck to display an identical styled '8' situated on the exact centre of his back neckline.

A surge of anger filled Ichigo's being as he thought of how Aizen had stripped away any sense of rights to these ten Espada – marking numbers on their bodies which identified them as merely nothing more than some sort of property to be owned.

It surprised him very little when he thought back over Szayel's and Grimmjow's words – understanding perfectly the need for them to help each other through the next coming days, weeks, months – however long it took – of this war.

Feeling the heavy weight of the conversation and the day's exhaustion taking hold, Ichigo let loose a long sigh, preparing for sleep.

A short while later, as he lay in bed and felt the clutches of a long-awaited rest claim him, the last thing that entered his mind was a pair of golden and cyan blue eyes.

* * *

The atmosphere in the room was tense.

Nine captains stationed and awaiting the call of order from the tenth.

Eyelids sliding open, ancient wrinkled skin seeming to protest the strained movement as he held out his cane, slamming the end down onto the wooden panelled flooring – the sound echoing throughout the meeting hall like the sharp crack of a whip – soutaichou Yamamoto Genryuusai Shigekuni passed his judgement.

"Captains of the Gotei 13," his commanding, imperious voice called out, "it has come to attention that in the World of the Living yesterday evening at sun's dusk, substitute shinigami Kurosaki Ichigo willingly accompanied two Espada-level Arrancar on passage towards Hueco Mundo. He has aligned himself with the enemy, knowingly, and with full intent. He is hereby labelled as traitor to the shinigami, and will be eliminated as one on sight."

The final resounding clamour of staff on wood echoed through the air across Seireitei.

* * *

**A/N: As always, please let me know what you think :D **

**... Just quickly, it's been driving me CRAZY not knowing where Szayel-sama's number is... that is one of the unanswered questions of Bleach which shall continue to haunt me *sigh* ... so I just went 'fuck it' and decided to stick it in a random place on him. I mean, he flips his hair a lot... so I _suppose_ that means that he's subconsciously diverting attention away from something at the back of his head, as well as just doing it to look pretty... *strokes chin in thought* **

**Again, I apologise for the OOC-ness... but it only gets worse in terms of that from this chapter on (it IS necessary though). If that does not deter you - see you next chapter :D**

**I'd also like to point out that no, I don't speak or understand any Spanish, and the numbers I used for the Espada were taken off of Google Translate and the Bleach Wikia. I can't be bothered going back and watching the anime to find each individual moment when they say what numbers they are - I'm lazy like that xD If anyone knows and can correct me though, please don't hesitate to do so and I shall fix it right up :D**


	4. Home is Where the Enemy Is

**A/N: Hello, hello! Welcome to the next chapter! As always, a huge shout-out to those who have followed, added to their favourites, and have reviewed *glows with happiness* :3 **

**I'm trying to sort my schedule out to upload a chapter once a week. I may not be able to stick to this all the time, but we shall see how we go. **

**ONWARDS! **

* * *

**Chapter 4: Home is Where the Enemy Is**

"_Ichigo, you betrayed us. How could you?" Indigo eyes stared coldly into angered brown, the small woman's black hair flying about her in the storm-filled wind. _

_"How could I not?" _

_He simply passed her by, ignoring her as expertly as they had been ignoring him for all this time. _

"_Kurosaki! How could you do this to us?"_

"_Kurosaki-kun… why?"_

"_Ichigo… please, come back."_

_Why the hell should I? _

_"Go away." _

_He snarled and turned his back on his so-called 'friends'. _

"_Ichigo… we'll help you." _

_He stopped, turning to face the man whom that musical, pleasant voice belonged to. Golden eyes greeted him, locks of pink hair dangling past the right side of his face. _

_He smiled, stepping forwards. _

_I trust you. I'll listen._

"_Come on kid, it's time to wake up," the deep, rough edged voice sounded from close by. Ichigo continued to smile, turning his head as he felt a hand grip his shoulder comfortingly. He was met with cyan blue eyes and a wild shock of blue hair as the taller male looked down at him. _

"_But what if I don't want to?" Ichigo murmured quietly as the pink-haired man approached from in front of him. _

"_You have to, Ichigo," Szayel stepped forwards, smiling softly, reaching out and tracing the contours of Ichigo's face with a delicate touch. The orange haired youth felt his breath catch at the sudden action. _

"_Kid? You listening?" _

"_I am…" Ichigo mumbled as the hand gripping his shoulder moved to hold around his waist, the blue haired male moving closer. _

_This feeling… it was nice. He felt safe. _

_His eyelids closed._

"_What do I have to do, jump on ya? Come on, Ichigo,"_

_Ichigo couldn't help the smile that crossed his lips. That would be welcomed. _

"_Ichigo…"_

_Ichigo frowned slightly. _

_Why was Grimmjow sounding so impatient?_

"_Ichigo…"_

_Ichigo opened his eyes slowly._

"Ichigo! Oi, I'm trying to get you up here!"

"… Huh?"

Ichigo managed to crack his eyes open with some effort as he was pulled out of his dream. He saw a flash of blue in the blurred vision of his sight and he groaned, his brain still heavily in the clutches of fogged memory and function.

"Finally," that same deep voice grumbled from somewhere nearby, amusement clearly evident in the man's tone.

It took another few moments of levelled straining to get his eyes to blink away the sleep – his brain slipping from the hold the unconsciousness the dream world brought. The first thing he noticed was an unfamiliar room tinged with green.

The next, was the bright streams of sunlight coursing through the window.

The last, was a pair of cyan blue eyes gazing at the boy expectantly.

It took Ichigo a moment to realise that Grimmjow had raised a blue eyebrow at him, and was standing by the side of his bed, waiting for him to get up.

"HOLY FUCK!" Ichigo cried out, jerking up into an immediate sitting position and colliding his head against the headboard.

Grimmjow threw his head back in a bark of laughter, the sound rumbling through his chest as his eyes alit with mirth.

Ichigo grumbled, rubbing his head carefully and trying to keep the furious blush from appearing on his cheeks, willing his heart to stop racing.

"G-Grimmjow? Wha… what the hell?!"

The shock left Ichigo's system slowly as he rubbed his eyes and forehead, his brain still somewhat fuzzy from the dream he had been interrupted from. He willed his cheeks to cool down.

"Sorry kid, didn't mean to scare ya _that _much," Grimmjow chuckled, his laughter dying down at Ichigo's abrupt morning greeting, he wiped his eyes and took a deep calming breath, shaking his head as his mouth grinned wide.

"S'ok," Ichigo mumbled.

"What are you doing here, anyway?"

Grimmjow looked back at the teen.

"I was trying to get you to wake your lazy ass and get dressed. I s'pose you actually _want _to know your way around the place, yeah?"

Ichigo allowed a small chuckle.

"Yeah, I probably do."

Grimmjow grinned again.

"Well your clothes are here – Aizen had 'em made for ya," his nose wrinkled in disgust as he handed Ichigo a folded pile of white and black clothing the boy had only just noticed the Sexta was carrying in his hands.

Ichigo accepted them, ignoring the warm brush of the other man's fingers against his own as he did so.

He unfolded the pile, eyeing a set of white attire lined with black which bore strong resemblance to the clothing that he had noticed the Espada wearing.

He sighed heavily, hate and loathing ripping through his gut.

"Really?" he asked quietly, lifting his gaze to stare back into bright blue eyes.

Grimmjow sighed, nodding.

"Sorry, kid. You're just gonna have to deal with this for the meantime, ok? We'll figure something out."

Ichigo nodded.

"Thanks," he whispered.

He received another nod in return from the blue haired male.

There was a moment of silence, before Ichigo lifted his head, raising his eyebrow at the taller man.

"What?" Grimmjow asked, looking confused.

"I _do _have to change into these, you know…" Ichigo replied, lifting up the white jacket and smiling slightly.

Grimmjow rolled his eyes, chuckling as he turned to make his way out of the room.

"Alright, alright, pardon me, princess…"

Ichigo scoffed.

"I'll be out here when you're done," Grimmjow added, nodding at the teen and closing the door behind him as he left.

As he turned to lean his back against the corridor wall, Grimmjow allowed a smile to pass his lips as images of the orange haired male's sleeping form filled his mind from when he had walked in to wake him, having gotten no response when he knocked on the door.

_His mouth was curved upwards in a small smile accentuating his handsome boyish features, his breathing soft and his orange hair ruffled from sleep. Grimmjow couldn't help but reach out and trail a hand gently down the teen's cheek – feeling the strong contours of the youth's jawline. His skin was warm._

Grimmjow closed his eyes, taking in a deep breath as he leant his head back against the darkened glass of the wall.

_You were brave for coming here, kid. I admire that. _

* * *

Ichigo tried his hardest to not become sick as he opened his door five minutes later – having quickly thrown on the new garments he was being made to wear. His zanpakutou was kept in the wardrobe he had discovered.

As if having his trust betrayed by Soul Society and his friends, as well as being tricked into coming to Hueco Mundo under the pretence that he could successfully find some way to covertly take Aizen down, only to have the oily bastard see right through him, wasn't bad enough – now he was to meander around in the very attire of those who were Aizen's elite.

He could imagine that Soul Society would say a thing or two about this.

The orange haired youth scoffed.

What was next? A fucking number?

His memory trailed towards the tattoos of the 6 and the 8 that he had caught glimpses of last night. He sighed.

_I wouldn't put it past him_.

"I see it fits you,"

Ichigo was drawn out of his bitter reverie by Grimmjow's voice, and he turned his head to the right to see the Sexta leaning against the wall, eyeing the clothing Ichigo was wearing with a look of contempt.

Ichigo couldn't blame him. He hated the things too.

He was now dressed in loose white pants which were the opposite colour of his usual shinigami hakama, black boots lined with stripes of white to replace his tabi socks and waraji sandals, and a white jacket which was the length of a standard T-shirt, with long white sleeves and four black stripes, three of which stretched around the centre of the chest. The last line was a thin vertical stripe lining the top and bottom of the garment that ended at waistline height; the larger three lines forming a full circle as the pattern wound from the left side of his chest, to coil around the back of the fabric and re-join at the front once more.

He felt utterly stupid.

Ichigo sighed, rubbing the back of his neck and making a face at the jacket collar which was hugging his neck – it felt awkward, like a formal shirt collar being held in place with a tie.

"Don't ask me to get used to this, because I won't. Not ever," he warned the taller male who was now standing in front of him.

"I wasn't going to. I find this about as funny as you do," Grimmjow replied with a serious tone.

Ichigo sighed again. At least he wasn't alone on the matter.

"Come on, I'll show you around. It'll give us a chance to talk," the Sexta changed the subject quickly, striding forwards with his hands in his pockets.

Ichigo fell into step beside him, glancing around him as Grimmjow continued.

"You probably don't know this, but your room is in the Espada living quarters," the blue haired man began. Ichigo snorted.

"I knew it… he really is planning on branding me," the orange haired youth gave a tired sigh. He almost missed the angered fury which passed in the other's eyes for a moment.

"He won't," he said quietly, his voiced strained a little, "not if Szayel and I can help it."

Ichigo found himself staring in silent amazement at this man and his words for not the first time since arriving in Las Noches. He doubted whether he could thank the both of them enough for their offering to help him – he found himself drawn to the two somehow, feeling comfortable and relaxed as he used to around his friends.

"Why are you… so intent on helping me?" he spoke up quietly after a moment.

Grimmjow turned to look at him, an eyebrow raised in confusion.

"Huh?"

"Well, what I mean is… don't get me wrong, I'm truly grateful and everything, but… we just met yesterday. And I know what you and Szayel said when you visited me last night, but it's been nagging at me for a while. Like you said, you're the enemy. To Soul Society, anyway. I would have said the same thing. Hell, I still _do _say the same thing when I look at a lot of the people here. Every Hollow or Arrancar I've come across are nothing but mindless, revenge-driven beings who aren't worthy of pity. They kill, lie and scheme all for their own ends. They destroy. It's all they know. But you and Szayel are… different," the teenager answered slowly.

"Ah…" came the understanding reply. Ichigo looked up to see a slight smile on Grimmjow's lips.

"Ichigo, the one thing you have to know about the Espada, is that we're not simple 'Hollows' or 'Arrancar'. Of course, we were, once… but out of everything in Hueco Mundo, we're the most human. We think, we feel, we experience exactly the same as humans do. We can eat like normal humans. We mostly _look _like normal humans. The only difference is we have these—" he paused to motion to the Hollow hole in his torso, and the mask on his cheek, "—and we have some abilities, like Cero. And then... we're given zanpakutous just like the shinigami. We call upon powers from our swords like shinigami. And most of us…" he paused again briefly, his eyes taking on a faraway look as he gazed ahead of him, "can remember what it was like in Soul Society."

Ichigo stopped walking, his chest overwhelmed with what he had just heard. Grimmjow paused, noticing Ichigo was no longer following. He turned around to gaze questioningly at the boy.

"You were… part of Soul Society?" came the quiet inquiry.

"… Yeah. A century ago."

Ichigo slowly lifted his head, causing Grimmjow's eyes to momentarily widen as he saw the turbulent emotions of hurt and anger swimming in those brown eyes.

"What happened?"

The Sexta sighed.

"Aizen. He was doing illegal experiments, both on shinigami and the souls living in Rukongai. Tryin' to make them Hollows. He succeeded a lot of the time, too. The effects varied. Though most of 'em became Gillian, then Adjuchas, then Arrancar… Vasto Lorde... the whole nine yards. Some of the lucky ones made it to Espada," he chuckled humourlessly.

"That what happened to you?"

A nod was his response.

"… Were you a—"

"Shinigami? Nah. One of the punks from Rukongai. Only thing I remember from my human life was fighting. The need to 'be a king' type of thing. S'pose it's not surprising I was murdered."

At this, Ichigo's eyes widened and his lips fell open in an expression of shock.

Grimmjow just offered a smile in an effort to mask his pain at the response from the boy, and shrugging his shoulders he continued onwards again, his hands still in his pockets.

"What about… what about Szayel?" came the quiet voice from behind him.

Grimmjow bit his lip idly as he thought about the pink-haired male whom he had known and had been close to since they had become Arrancar.

"He didn't get in by the usual route. Not Soul Society. He was a doctor when he was still human – that's all he can remember. Also worked in science departments for his research. He became a Hollow after one experiment with testing for cures to some sort of disease went wrong. He was attached to his work, so he couldn't be put to rest. Wound up here in Hueco Mundo, became Arrancar then Espada from there by the usual process."

"I knew it."

"Knew what?"

Grimmjow turned his head again to look at the teen who had resumed walking alongside him, the boy's brows drawn together in a look of confirmation to something he appeared to have been mulling over.

"I thought he was some sort of doctor or scientist. I got that feeling when I met him yesterday."

Grimmjow laughed.

"He's the best scientist we have – that brain of his can calculate shit in seconds that would take me years to figure out. I have more of an 'act first, think how much you fucked up later' type of mindset."

It was Ichigo's turn to laugh.

"Makes two of us then," he agreed.

Glad that the mood had lightened considerably, Grimmjow smiled and turned a corner at the end of the corridor, Ichigo following suit.

"You two are close, aren't you?" came the barely audible question from beside him after a few minutes of silence.

"Yeah…"

A faint smile drew across the boy's lips.

"Lovers?"

"… Yeah…"

Ichigo's smile grew wider as he continued to eye the taller man next to him. He brought up his arms and laced his hands behind his neck, glancing around the new hallway which lacked any sort of décor just like the previous one.

From beside him, the Sexta continued to walk along with his hands in his pockets, a slight grin pulling at his lips.

They had now reached a large doorway which led into a hall revealing slitted windows along either side, the sun streaming in and creating golden rays which warmed the otherwise cold and lifeless darkened marble the entire palace interior seemed to be constructed out of.

"This separates the living quarters from the rest of the palace. Come on, I'll show you."

Ichigo followed.

* * *

He had lost count of how long they had been walking through the expanse of room upon room – but Ichigo could not have asked for better company.

He felt closer to the blue haired Espada since he had revealed his past earlier on, the pair soon exchanging stories of Soul Society and its dictatorship, then learning from each other different tales of the World of the Living. They would avoid any direct talk about Aizen, as it was something best left behind closed doors where no one would be likely to eavesdrop.

Instead, Ichigo learnt that Las Noches was a palace constructed by Aizen when he arrived in Hueco Mundo, and it consisted of the main central dome surrounded by five towers. The sunlight which he had seen streaming through the windows and the glimpses of clouds and blue sky, was really a ceiling which had been constructed by the shinigami traitor to emulate the weather conditions of the World of the Living.

In reality, the land of the Hollows was blanketed in never ending midnight, the moon an infinite crescent rotation in the sky.

The land was dead.

He learned more about the Espada, how the numbering system operated based on the 'birth' of that Arrancar as one of these elite warriors. The numbers did not necessarily reflect strength, as Grimmjow noted that some Espada were stronger than others – even though they may have a lower number.

It angered Ichigo that an Espada's rank could also be as carelessly cast aside as the warrior him or herself, another Arrancar at free reign to defeat the current one in power and take that number for their own.

It was survival of the fittest – the entire land thrived on that basic principle of self-preservation.

He also learned of the Forest of Menos which dwelt deep underneath the sands of the barren landscape – from where countless Hollows and Menos Grande resided, cursing those above and themselves.

The conversation changed, and Ichigo learnt the locations of everything within the palace – where the other Espada resided, the training rooms, the amenities such as kitchens and resting facilities – there was even a library and a large glass-framed room which served as an area to gaze at the outside world, or to become lost in thought.

The more they talked and laughed, Ichigo had realised that they had become fast friends.

He couldn't help a sense of inner satisfaction and peace at this – having never felt this at home with anyone before, not even Ishida, Inoue, Chad or Rukia or Renji.

It almost startled him to find himself thinking that the more he explored this palace with this man by his side, the more he had started to feel a sense of ease as if he was exploring his own home.

Home?

Maybe.

There was nothing for him in the Real World, after all. As soon as Soul Society had found out what he had done, they would prevent him from ever returning, to either there or Soul Society itself.

Not that he cared.

They could all rot in Hell.

Maybe… just maybe… when Aizen was defeated, he could see this place as his home.

Just maybe.

"You ok there, Ichi?"

Ichigo blinked, turning his head to look at Grimmjow, who had noticed the younger male spacing out for a few minutes now. Sometime during their talks today, Grimmjow had settled on an abbreviated form of Ichigo's name as what he was going to call him by.

"Yeah, I'm fine. Sorry about that. Just thinking…"

"'Bout what?"

The orangette shrugged.

"Nothing in particular… this is all just really hard to take in I guess…"

The other male nodded, turning his head back to look in front of him.

"I can understand that. You'll get used to it. Ah…" he paused in his steps, gazing at the corridor he was originally going to turn into.

"What's wrong?"

"I was just thinking… we might have to go the long way round. This is the beginning of the living quarters. I'm sure ya probably don't want to go through _that _again," Grimmjow mused.

Ichigo rolled his eyes and scoffed.

"Nah, not really."

When they had made their way through there before, Grimmjow and Ichigo had seen some of the other Espada around the hallway. Ichigo was introduced to a few, including the Tercera, Harribel, who had glanced at Ichigo and exchanged a few muffled words of welcome before ruffling his hair as she walked past, and then the Quinto – Nnoitra.

He had challenged Ichigo to a battle in the hallway right then and there.

Grimmjow had spent some time engaging in verbal abuse at the seven foot tall male to tell him to "fuck off, he ain't gonna fight you here you fucking dickhead".

Needless to say, Ichigo did not like the dangerous look Nnoitra had given him as he had eventually stalked off, sniggering quietly to him "if ya want ter stand any chance of fucking Aizen over, yer gonna 'ave ta get stronger eventually. The only way ya can do that is ter get through me, first."

And then he had left.

Ichigo shook his head slightly at the memory of it – he didn't want anything better than to engage that bastard in a one-on-one fight to prove to him that he could take him down, but right now he was not in the mood.

He followed after Grimmjow who had continued straight ahead.

"Szayel's probably finished with his work now, so we can see him. It's also the only place we can talk about everything else," the Sexta murmured quietly.

Ichigo nodded – knowing that the 'everything else' applied to the issue regarding Aizen.

Deciding to change the mood, Ichigo spoke up.

"What _was _Szayel doing, anyway?"

Grimmjow chuckled.

"Honestly, I don't even want to know half the time, sometimes. You can ask him, but you'll probably get a response with more chemical equations than Ulquiorra's brain matter."

Ichigo snorted a laugh.

"What are you two doing?"

They stopped in their tracks as a familiar, cold emotionless voice suddenly sounded from behind them, and Grimmjow and Ichigo turned to see none other than Ulquiorra himself emerging from a room which was along the right-hand side of the wall.

If he had heard Grimmjow's insult directed towards him, he did not outwardly show it.

"Ulquiorra. You know, I might just answer that if you grew a personality," Grimmjow sneered, raising a hand and to Ichigo's amusement, stuck his middle finger straight up at the Cuarto Espada.

Ulquiorra merely blinked before sweeping his gaze over to Ichigo.

"Kurosaki Ichigo, you would do well to remember your place here. You are here at the request of Aizen-sama. Never forget that."

With that, he turned around and headed off in the opposite direction.

Ichigo and Grimmjow waited until he had turned the corner and was out of earshot before narrowing their eyes.

"Emotionless prick. Man's got a stick up his ass," Grimmjow grunted in intense dislike, turning around and motioning for Ichigo to follow him, which the latter did.

"Does he ever show any emotion at all?" Ichigo mused.

Grimmjow snorted, a menacing grin forming on his lips.

"Probably when his precious 'Aizen-sama' is fucking him into the mattress."

Ichigo choked a little on his words.

"Wh-what?!"

Grimmjow cast a sidewards glance at him.

"It's not confirmed, but the rest of us have our suspicions."

Ichigo smirked – that was just too brilliant.

After a moment, the Sexta spoke up louder.

"We're here. You might wanna be careful. Sometimes he gets a bit careless and leaves some equipment lyin' around the place."

Ichigo nodded his understanding and walked through the cream coloured door that Grimmjow had opened for them.

* * *

Walking through, he eyed the reflections of the extensive laboratory around him illuminating from the glass capsules, beakers, test tubes, bench tops and monitors with a shocked reverence.

It was very impressive, to say the least.

He felt Grimmjow's presence beside him and followed his blue haired friend through a path which was in front of them, leading them towards the main central chamber of the lab. A huge computer system was set up in plain sight, the screens switched on and flashing various bits and pieces of green writing every so often as data from unnameable sources was fed through the machine.

Ichigo felt a small smile come to his lips when he looked to his right to see the figure of the pink-haired Octava leaning over one of the monitor screens, writing something down as he pushed his glasses up with his free hand, before straightening up and handing the document over towards a tall Arrancar who bowed, exiting the lab and inclining his head at the Sexta and Ichigo as he walked past.

"Szayel?" Grimmjow called out.

The slighter male lifted his head and smiled broadly when he saw his lover approach, his golden eyes gazing first into cyan blue before widening and seeming to soften when they saw warm brown.

"Hello Grimmjow. I'm almost finished here for the day… Ichigo, how are you? Are you holding up ok?" he greeted in a cheerful tone, flipping some of his hair behind his shoulder again.

Ichigo nodded, crossing his arms over his chest as he leant against one of the tables.

"I am, thank you," he replied, his tone relatively soft as he gazed at both of his companions.

The Octava's golden eyes narrowed, his smile fading as he looked at Ichigo's clothing.

"Aizen made you wear this?"

Ichigo sighed, nodding his head as he glanced down at the Arrancar uniform he was currently attired in.

A brief stormy look clouded Szayel's fine features.

"Shit…" he murmured softly.

Ichigo could have gawked at that point – he wasn't expecting him to swear.

"Well? What do we do now?" Grimmjow sighed as he sat himself down in a spare chair near one of the tables.

"We still need proof before we can act," Szayel replied, turning his gaze to the Sexta.

"Proof?" Ichigo questioned.

The two nodded.

"I can already tell this won't be easy…" the substitute shinigami replied drily.

Grimmjow barked a humourless laugh.

"Bingo," he sighed, running a hand through his hair.

Ichigo rubbed the back of his neck.

"Any ideas?"

The question hung in the air for a few minutes.

"Like you said, it won't be easy, but I believe the right time will be when the war is openly declared between Soul Society," Szayel began slowly, melodic voice somehow soothing.

"If we can find something, _anything_, which can be used against him, the rest of the Espada can be convinced that who they're fighting for will as soon as destroy them than lead them on some 'quest and glory' mission to ultimate power here in Hueco Mundo."

Grimmjow and Ichigo echoed their agreement to this.

"I've been analysing the effects of Aizen's Kyouka Suigetsu. Are you familiar with his zanpakutou at all, Ichigo?" Szayel continued, gazing once more into the boy's brown eyes.

Ichigo nodded.

"Yeah, I am. I've been told that I'm the only one, from Soul Society anyway, who has a better chance at defeating him. I haven't been subjected to the effects of his Shikai," the teenager responded.

Szayel hummed in approval.

"That's good news. From the data I was reading before, it appears that given enough time, I can create an airborne drug which can counter the 'absolute hypnosis' abilities of his katana. It will be difficult, of course, but within a month I trust that I can be successful."

"A month?" Grimmjow asked quietly.

Szayel nodded, sighing.

"Not soon enough, I know."

Ichigo clenched his fists up by his side.

"No… it will be enough…" he began, determination ringing through his voice causing both Espada to gaze at him intently and with mild surprise.

"Aizen mentioned that he knew my Hollow powers were incomplete, right? I mean, sure I can control them, but not at the level that would be required if I were to battle him. I know this is exactly what he wants, but I think going along with what he has planned will provide some means for you to work without arousing any suspicion. So I'll train to control my Hollow. I'll get stronger. He will of course see through this sooner if not later, but the less he knows of you two, the better."

"Ichigo…" Grimmjow blinked, completely at a loss.

Ichigo's resolute stare met the Sexta's widened blue eyes, telling him silently that he would do whatever it took to see this through. The cyan gaze of the older man softened into one of acceptance.

A quiet sigh from behind him drew Ichigo's attention back to Szayel.

"I think, Ichigo… he may already know," the Octava whispered quietly, a bitter smile forming on his lips.

"All the more reason to act now," the teen replied.

Szayel continued to smile faintly; he lifted his gaze to look at Grimmjow, who had his arms crossed and a thoughtful expression in his eyes - he shrugged, standing up.

"Can't argue with that," he said simply.

Ichigo couldn't help the faint chuckle that left his lips to accompany Szayel's.

It was true that this would by no means be an easy road to take, but for now, this brief moment of peace was enough. Then they would strike.

* * *

**A/N: Little red romance flag, goin' right up... :P **

**I thought I'd try and make things a little interesting by making a little something about Grimmjow's and Szayel's human life... I realise this is probably taking the complete and utter mickey out of what Kubo Tite has done, but hey... that's HIS version of Bleach, this is MINE :P **

**You'll also find that I royally effed up how the Espada and Arrancar are created and whatnot etc. ... this is because that annoying crystal ball called the Hougyoku is just that. Annoying. It's a ball. A shiny ball. I don't care what it does, if it makes dreams and desires come true, based on its 'master' or whatever, or was used by Aizen to create his divine breed of soldiers. **

**O wise and crystally ball of purple... crystal-ness... heed my wish and disappear from canon! ... and put these three together for real, while you're at it. *\(-_-)/***

**... See you next chapter :P**


	5. The Die is Cast

**A/N: I'm back! Thank you so much again all you reviewers, favouriters and followers... It makes me so happy at the amazing responses I'm receiving :3 **

**Couple of things you should be aware of in this chapter... 1. Yes, you finally get some fanservice. SOME. Enjoy :3 2. ... expect there to be a lot of amateur-ness with the upcoming plot. **

**Try and enjoy :P **

* * *

**Chapter 5: The Die is Cast**

The metallic clash of steel on steel rang out throughout the circular dome-shaped room.

The sound of an explosion like thunder ripping the air apart echoed with a wild tremor, accompanied by something heavy slamming into a nearby pillar.

A sharp cry of pain filled his ears, garbled slightly by the harsh flow of blood which spewed forth from his throat.

"Come on, Kurosaki! We've only been at it fer an hour already! You did better than this last time!"

Ichigo groaned as he wiped his mouth on his white sleeve, tainting the fabric crimson as he willed his aching and bruised body to stand. His legs were shaking.

Grunting, he raised his hand, his other gripping the slim, sleek blade of Tensa Zangetsu, and he willed himself to grasp his reiatsu as if he were pulling on curtain shades to block a window of the sun's rays. Feeling the tingling, pulsing thrum of energy, he took a deep breath, slipping into the hyperaware state of being as he felt his Hollow mask reform on his face – his eyes now blackened with golden irises.

With a cry, he burst forth in sonido, his speed faster than shunpo, as he jumped powerfully into the air to avoid the swinging deadly scythes wielded by Nnoitra.

"Not bad, not bad. Keep dodgin' like that an' yer might get a medal," the Quinto drawled mockingly as he threw the chain around his waist back, slinging forth Santa Teresa with a speed which could slice the very air in two.

Ichigo hastily brought forth his blade, forcing his arms into a relaxed yet firm blocking stance to deflect the brunt of the blow, his eyes narrowing as he pushed back against the cruelly shaped semi-circular guillotine which would have caused him some serious harm had his reflexes been wrongly calculated.

Nnoitra sniggered when he reached out with his hand, drawing the double-edged blade back to his side.

It had been almost a month since Ichigo had arrived in Las Noches. Ever since that second day and the conversation within Szayel's laboratory, Ichigo had been striving to better control his Hollow powers. He had taken Nnoitra up on his offer, and had pleased the Quinto Espada well enough with his high reiatsu and his determination in battle that the lanky male had offered to continue sparring with the teenager to help him.

Though, his eagerness for a fight of any kind was well known.

The Quinto's one violet eye narrowed as Ichigo disappeared from direct vision in a burst of sonido. Reflexively, Nnoitra hoisted his oversized blade behind his shoulder and smirked as the ringing clash and the force of a heavy struck blow filled the air – Ichigo had attacked from behind in an effort to surprise him, only to have found that this was what Nnoitra had been expecting.

"Che," Ichigo's voice was distorted and watery through his mask, though his lips were slid open in a large grin. He too had known Nnoitra was expecting this.

"Getsuga—"

Nnoitra's eye widened in confusion for a minute as the weight against his sword was reduced, Ichigo having burst away from him.

_Where was he going to attack next?_

"—TENSHOU!"

Nnoitra cried out as the wave of densely heated reiatsu severed the air in a void-like aura, pushing back against him, causing him to block too late when Ichigo had delivered the blow from up above.

"GYAH!"

The taller male was sent flying back against the side of the training dome, crashing into its smooth surface with a force so hard it would be sure to completely snap a human in half with the crushing weight.

He grunted in pain – even his strong Hierro wasn't enough to fully soften the impact of that attack.

He shook his head to free his blurred vision, Ichigo reappearing before him, his hand held out and palm facing the dazed Espada.

_What was he doing now?_

As he saw the blackened crimson ball of energy forming at the teen's fingertips, Nnoitra's eye widened in sudden realisation and he just managed to recover enough to sonido away from the resulting destructive Cero which hit the wall a mere split second later, burning away the very foundation along the side in a tremendous explosion.

Panting heavily, the adrenaline coursing through his veins causing his heart to pump feverishly, Nnoitra turned his head to look at Ichigo in shock. He could still feel the prickling heat of that last attack searing past his skin.

"When'd ya learn ter control yer Cero like that?" he gasped out.

Ichigo smiled, bringing his free hand up to tear away at the reiatsu particles which held his mask in place, the boned structure fading into red shimmers and the boy's eyes reverting back to their original warm brown.

"I've been practicing. Grimmjow showed me," he replied, shrugging.

Nnoitra gaped.

"… Holy fuckin' shit, Kurosaki!"

Ichigo smirked.

"Is that enough for today, or did you want me to try again?"

Nnoitra pulled himself up from the ground, steadying himself on his legs before he walked over to pick up Santa Teresa from where he had dropped it as he slammed into the wall.

"Nah, I think we're all good fer today. Yer've already mastered Cero and keepin' yer mask on fer almost permanent lengths o' time. Plus yer can do sonido even _without _the mask. Fuckin' Christ I'm gonna have a go at Grimmjow fer doin' my job for me. Come tah think of it… do yer even _need _yer mask anymore?" he asked, completely serious.

Ichigo paused from where he was about to seal the Bankai of his zanpakutou.

"Probably not," he replied quietly after a moment's thought.

Nnoitra whistled in disbelief.

"Well fuck me," he muttered.

"I'm gonna head off and get these wounds tended to. Thanks for the session, Nnoitra," Ichigo called out as he turned around, making to leave the training ground. Nnoitra just mumbled something unintelligible in response, waving his hand.

Ichigo smiled, feeling proud of his accomplishment at having made the Quinto Espada look like the complete and utter idiot he was whilst improving on his powers at the same time – he didn't particularly hate Nnoitra, he just thought the lanky male needed to tone it down a bit more.

Sighing as he gave a quick once over of the wounds which had accumulated from today's session, Ichigo knew that Szayel would be upset.

Over the past month, the three of them – Ichigo, Szayel and Grimmjow – had indeed gotten closer, the two Espada having become close friends with the orange haired youth. Ichigo already knew of Szayel's and Grimmjow's relationship, having correctly guessed at the two being lovers the day the Sexta had shown Ichigo around Las Noches. This hadn't had any effect on the friendship the three maintained, rather, Ichigo found himself seeking the two's companionship on a regular basis when he was able to find some time to himself. The Sexta and Octava greatly welcomed this – the trio often spending hours engaged in conversation.

Defeating the shinigami traitor had reigned top priority over this past month, Ichigo working hard to make himself stronger. He had decided this to draw attention away from Szayel, who was conducting research on how to negate the effects of Aizen's zanpakutou.

Grimmjow had lent any spare moment he could in helping Ichigo with his training – it was the blue haired male after all who had worked with the teenage boy to fully perfect his Cero and Hollow abilities after Ichigo's training sessions with Nnoitra.

Ichigo felt he owed everything to the Espada he had been living with in Las Noches for these four weeks.

Indeed, he had changed a whole lot from when he had first arrived. Getting back at Soul Society and those whom he had called friends still burned brightly in his heart, but he had grown to fully accept his life here in Hueco Mundo.

He had already begun seeing it as home.

This also largely had something to do with the pink and blue haired males who constantly filled his thoughts each and every day.

Slinging his zanpakutou – now in its Shikai state – over its holster on his back, Ichigo made his way down towards Szayel's laboratory. He nodded towards Starrk, the tired-looking Primera Espada, who had strolled by him at that moment, undoubtedly looking to find Lilynette to get her back for something or other.

The tall Primera waved lazily and nodded in return, a sleepy drawl of "morning, Ichigo," passing his lips as he did so.

If it was morning, Ichigo couldn't tell. Nothing changed in Hueco Mundo – it was as if time did not exist. The only thing to say otherwise was the artificial ceiling which provided the illusion of sunrise, midday, and sunset.

Ichigo fell into musings of how the opinions of the rest of the Espada had changed toward him from the moment he had first arrived, until now. He was largely accepted as one of their own.

Of course, some never acknowledged him with anything more than a glance, namely Ulquiorra and Baraggan, but Ichigo honestly could not care less.

He was about to turn a winding corridor to his right when he was stopped.

His eyes narrowing, he slowly turned his head to eye the flicker of movement which he had observed out of the corner of his eye from somewhere behind him.

"What do you want?"

A shady figure approached forwards out of the shadows.

"Aw, it's no fun when ya can guess someone's there so easily like that, Ichigo-kun," Ichimaru Gin pouted in a frivolous tone, making himself known before the orangette.

Ichigo eyed the silver haired, snake-grinned man with dislike.

"I asked you what you wanted."

"Oooh, so mean an' serious today! If ya keep scowlin' like that, it'll be permanent," Gin smiled his usual unnerving smirk.

"Aizen-taichou wants a meetin' with ya," he then added.

Ichigo felt his gut and stomach clench tightly.

"Why?" he spat out.

Gin raised an eyebrow, his smile never leaving his face.

"I wouldn't question 'im, if I were yer…"

Ichigo threw him a seething glance before turning away from his original intended direction to cross past the ex-3rd Division captain. He ignored the smile which never left that man's face as he followed Ichigo's movement, not saying anything else.

* * *

Ichigo's steps were deliberately slow as he made along the hated path he had hoped he would never have to take towards the shinigami traitor's quarters.

Mercifully he had managed to avoid seeing any trace or sign of the oily treacherous bastard since the day he had arrived.

One's luck had to run out sometime, however.

All too soon for his liking, the orange haired teen had arrived outside the imposing doorway. He didn't even bother knocking. The "come in, Ichigo-kun," the moment he had stepped towards the doors told him that his presence was already made aware of.

Ichigo visibly bristled at the smarmy man's honey-coated voice, the deep tone sickening him to his core. He pushed the doors open, steeling himself for whatever bullshit the traitor decided to feed him.

The room inside was large and spacious, darkened shades lined the walls and floors – the space looking out towards an extensive balcony which overlooked the moon-kissed plains of the sands of Hueco Mundo.

In a chair by the balcony, a hand over a cup resting on top of a glass top table, sat Aizen.

The smile on the brown-haired man's lips made Ichigo do everything he could in his power to keep a reign on his reiatsu to prevent him from bursting forth and murdering the traitor.

He would murder him, alright.

But not until there was a less risky time to do so.

"I'm pleased to see you, Ichigo-kun. It has been some while," Aizen began.

_Not long enough,_ Ichigo thought bitterly, otherwise not replying.

Smirking at the boy's unwillingness to speak, Aizen continued.

"I have heard of your training with Nnoitra Gilga. It has pleased me greatly with the outstanding progress you have made regarding your powers, Ichigo-kun. You truly are everything I had hoped for."

Still no reply.

"I am also glad to see that you are getting along well with your fellow Espada members; Grimmjow Jaegerjaquez and Szayelaporro Granz in particular."

Ichigo was starting to feel uncomfortable by now, though not outwardly showing it. Hearing his friends' names fall from that man's lips was one of the greatest insults he had known.

"Is there a point to all this talking about my life achievement crap or are you going to cut the bullshit and get down to it already?"

The smile widened on Aizen's lips, making Ichigo's rage reach near boiling point inside of him.

"As you wish,"

Ichigo's eye twitched a little.

"Soul Society, as of last month, have discovered that you have joined with me. Willingly, and of full awareness of the consequences associated with doing so. They have labelled you as a traitor to the shinigami, and you are to be executed as befitting your new title upon sight."

Ichigo was silent for a minute.

"And you waited until _now_ to tell me, why, exactly?"

Aizen chuckled.

"It intrigues me that you seem to carry no surprise concerning this matter. You are, after all, a branded criminal, Ichigo-kun. You are to be sentenced to death. Does this not bother you? This further betrayal by those who you once used to trust?"

There was silence for another minute.

"I've known what their reaction towards me doing this would be as soon as they found out. So no, it doesn't surprise me in the slightest. You asked me if it bothered me. I turned my back on them the moment I stepped through that garganta. You know as well as I do, Aizen, that I no longer think of them as the ones I used to have faith in. I plan to get my revenge on them. But again, you already know this. That's why you're feeding me all this reverse psychology shit, so you can try and gain a hold over me. I'm not buying it. Go pedal your crap to someone who actually gives a fuck. Try Ulquiorra – I've heard he freely gives a lot of fucks to you."

Aizen gave an unreadable smile.

The orangehead's eyes narrowed dangerously and he turned to take his leave.

"The Gotei 13 will amass for attack within the next week."

Ichigo's steps didn't falter as he neared the door, those last words of the shinigami traitor not losing volume despite the distance Ichigo now was from the man sitting near the balcony.

"Let them come," was all he replied with, before slamming the door shut behind him.

* * *

Lumina welcomed Ichigo inside when the youth knocked on the laboratory door, a resounding cry of "Kurosaki-sama! Kurosaki-sama!" leaving the Fracción's lips as he excitedly clapped and bounced away when Ichigo offered a smile and a wave in return.

He wasn't surprised to find the Octava bent once more over a high-tech looking data machine, various other bits and pieces of experimental results strewn out next to the documents he was attending to.

This past month, Szayel had hardly found any time away from the lab – having dedicated most of his time and research to becoming one step closer in bringing Aizen down from the high and mighty perch he had created for himself.

"Szayel?" Ichigo spoke up quietly.

The pink-haired Espada immediately raised his head as he heard the orangehead's voice, and a bright smile formed over his lips as he readjusted his glasses, his golden eyes softening as he approached the teen.

"Ichigo, I'm glad you're back. I expected you a while ago," he spoke, his voice light and melodious, yet carrying a sense of relief and slight sternness.

Ichigo smiled sheepishly as he sat down in a chair motioned out to him by the pink-haired male, while the Octava reached for a first-aid kit and opened it up, getting ready to heal Ichigo's wounds.

"I'm sorry," he sighed, his tone darkening.

"Aizen wanted me to speak with him."

At this, the look in Szayel's golden eyes clouded considerably, his normally delicate expression now lethal.

"What did he want?" he growled, his voice no longer carrying its usual musical trill.

"He fed me some bullshit about how 'proud' he was of me progressing with my powers. Then he finally revealed to me Soul Society putting a death sentence over my head, and their attack which will begin on us next week."

Szayel's hands gripped the bandages and syringe he was holding tightly, his face hard and his mouth set in a thin, pursed line.

"They won't have you," he spoke quietly, his voice carrying the threat of death.

"I know they won't," Ichigo responded in a whisper, causing golden eyes to raise and look into warm brown.

"Just like they won't dare lay a finger on you or Grimmjow, or the rest of the Espada. Well… with a few exceptions," the teen added as an afterthought, thinking of Ulquiorra and Baraggan.

A hint of a smile quirked at the corners of Szayel's mouth.

"Ichigo…"

The orangehead smiled in response.

The Octava resumed rolling up Ichigo's sleeve to eye the extent of damage underneath the tainted fabric.

A hiss escaped his teeth as he saw the long gash decorating Ichigo's forearm – he immediately went about sterilising the wound with an alcohol swab and began to slowly insert the syringe into the muscle of the teen's bicep, injecting the substance which the scientist had created to restore reiatsu particles to heal the subject from the inside-out. He removed the needle, applying the bandages tenderly around Ichigo's arm.

Despite the faint stinging from the injection, Ichigo continued to smile softly.

"I'm going to modify Nnoitra into something infinitely less barbaric and something far more humiliating very, very soon if he continues to do this to you," came the fussing comment from the Octava as he continued working on Ichigo's wounds.

Ichigo couldn't help the laugh that left his throat.

Another sigh a moment later fell from Szayel's lips as he stood back up.

"Ichigo, your jacket, please. These wounds extend over more than just your arm."

Ichigo noted with a wince as he moved to get his white jacket off that the scientist was indeed right. Handing it to the Octava, who carefully folded it up and placed it along the other table, Ichigo saw the widened gaze of those golden eyes when he returned his attention to the lines of slight bleeding bruises crossing over Ichigo's chest.

Ichigo looked down, his own eyes widening.

"I didn't even notice that…"

Szayel didn't comment, he merely took out another alcohol swab and began gingerly cleaning some of the cuts which had formed along his skin. Ichigo shivered a little as the cold sting ran across his sensitive chest.

After a moment, he realised that the alcohol swab was replaced with something else.

Feeling warm hands gently map over his muscles, Ichigo blinked and turned his head to see Szayel gazing at the planes of Ichigo's well-toned torso with a look of unmistakeable desire. Shivers ran down Ichigo's spine which had nothing to do with cold disinfectant.

The shivers became more pronounced when Szayel lowered his head and grazed his lips over the ridge of Ichigo's abdominals, marking his tanned skin with feather-light kisses as he drew higher to caress the cuts with his soft mouth, as if willing the kisses to make the wounds disappear.

Ichigo's muscles twitched pleasurably under the tender affection, and his heart leapt inside his chest, his breathing becoming hitched. His hands had begun gripping the edge of the chair so tightly his knuckles were white against his skin.

"S-Szayel?" he stammered.

The Octava didn't respond for a while, reaching out and resting one gloved hand against the right plane of Ichigo's chest, moving his head to trail soft caresses of his mouth higher towards Ichigo's collarbone.

Ichigo couldn't help the low moan that sounded in his throat when the teasing scrape of teeth brushed against his throat, circling from one side of his neck to the other, before drawing higher to kiss and faintly nibble at the shell of the teen's ear.

Another loud groan was Szayel's reward, Ichigo closing his eyes when the Octava whispered a tender yet heated "Shhh…" next to his ear.

Those gentle groans and the rising and falling of Ichigo's chest feverishly under his hand, his heart pounding viciously, caused Szayel's golden eyes to flutter and his body stir with a needy want for this boy.

He had waited far too long for this. He knew that Grimmjow would forgive him.

Shifting suddenly so his legs were resting along either side of Ichigo's waist, bringing himself down to straddle the boy in the chair he was sitting on, Szayel and Ichigo let out simultaneous moans at their close proximity – Szayel bringing his hands up to rest along either side of Ichigo's neck, making the orange haired male open his now-clouded eyes to gaze heatedly at the Octava.

Szayel wasted no time in lowering his head to the boy's, his hair splaying gracefully about him to caress against the youth's cheeks, closing the distance and slowly, tenderly, pressing his lips to Ichigo's.

Ichigo felt himself freeze up for the briefest of seconds, his mouth touched by a glorious taste which was as sweet as the scent of Szayel's skin. He relaxed immediately, finding the ability to move his hands again to gently wrap around the Octava's neck. Szayel moaned softly as he moved closer, sliding his lips over Ichigo's again in the slowest of motions, allowing the boy to become used to the sensation.

Ichigo tasted like vanilla and summer fruit – the perfect contrast to the warm cinnamon and musk of Grimmjow.

Szayel loved them both.

Ichigo slowly followed the lead that Szayel was providing, pressing his lips up against the soft warmth of the Octava's mouth – carefully mapping the feel and taste to memory as another soft moan left his throat. Ichigo felt as if his heart was about to give out with how fast it was beating.

His lips soon picked up the pace, the need to become closer and more urgent registering in both men's brains – a small fleck of saliva trailed from the corner of Ichigo's mouth which Szayel lapped up with the tip of his tongue, Ichigo groaning as he felt the hot appendage slide carefully against the corner of his chin. Szayel hummed in pleasure as his lips slid back over the now-reddening pliant mouth of Ichigo's, his hands tracing up the teen's neck for more grip whilst Ichigo's fingers laced behind Szayel's neck with more certainty.

Soft pants for air filled the space between them, and Szayel slowly moved away, breaking the kiss and cupping the youth's cheeks with his hands, his heavy golden eyes gazing down into warm brown as he tried to catch his breath.

Ichigo's head swam a little, he too was gasping faintly – his whole being feeling dazed from what had just happened. He gazed into those intelligent, captivating eyes, reaching up and running a hand through the soft pink locks which brushed against his cheek.

"Wow…" was all the orangehead could whisper as he blushed a faint tinge of red, his eyes gazing over to the data monitor on the left-hand side in embarrassment.

Szayel laughed, running a hand down Ichigo's cheek and carefully sitting up, removing himself from the young male's lap and picking up the bandages which had been forgotten entirely during those few minutes.

He unravelled them and began tending to the rest of the wound marks on Ichigo's chest.

"I'd kinda hate to see how Grimmjow would react to that," Ichigo mused quietly after some while.

Szayel chuckled.

"He won't mind – I've known him for a long time. It's fairly easy to tell when something will get him adorably angry over something. This isn't one of those things," he replied.

Ichigo gave a quiet laugh.

"Thank you for… well... uh..." Ichigo replied, blushing a little again as he was unable to finish.

He somehow felt it was rude to call it 'that kiss'.

Another chuckle was his response as Szayel resumed his work with the bandages.

Ichigo could feel the blush become brighter.

"There, all done. Please do try and look after yourself, you have such nice skin," Szayel sighed as he closed the first-aid kit, replacing it back under the desk where it had originally laid.

Ichigo chuckled, grabbing his folded jacket and settling it in his lap, carefully prodding at the bandages along his chest and arm with an experimental touch.

"I suppose I should get back to work," Szayel continued, heading back over to a table upon which a large tank-looking object was placed, housing some arrays of digital-looking tubes for developing something.

Ichigo gave a faint murmur of acknowledgement.

"How's it going?"

Szayel turned his head to look back at the orangette, smiling and motioning for him to get up and make his way over to see for himself.

Ichigo did so, ignoring the faint sting of his wounds as he moved to stand by the slightly taller male.

"I've just finished decoding the molecular structure of the hypnotic wavelengths that Kyouka Suigetsu emits when released – it's something surprisingly simple. It took so long to record though because it was difficult to find accurate samples upon which to target. But now I've gathered enough to be able to create an anti-hypnotic drug which can alter its effects," he announced satisfactorily.

Ichigo was amazed.

"That's impressive," he breathed.

"How long will that take, do you think?"

Szayel chewed his bottom lip absentmindedly in thought.

"I would estimate about three days, at the most."

Ichigo felt his eyes widen.

"Three days?"

He received a nod in response.

"Then we can remove any and all effects of the remaining control that Aizen may have over anyone – allowing us to show them the truth as to what he's really like."

Ichigo hummed in agreement, falling silent for a few seconds.

"We still need that proof though, don't we?"

At this, Szayel's smile turned into a frown.

"Yes, we do."

"Any ideas?"

The scientist shook his head.

Ichigo sighed, rubbing a hand over his eyes.

"What I would give for this to be over with already," he mumbled.

"You and me both, Ichigo," Szayel sighed.

The golden eyed male looked down at Ichigo and gently rested his hand on the youth's shoulder, the action causing Ichigo to smile faintly and clasp a hand over his. Szayel was just about to comment that Ichigo should go and get some rest, when a loud beeping issued forth from one of the monitors.

Both males looked at each other with confusion, quickly walking over to the main computer.

Szayel typed away at the keyboard, his fingers moving with impressive speed, and read the screen which was showing the incoming message.

His fine brows furrowed into a frown.

"What is it?" Ichigo asked, this action not going unnoticed.

"Aizen has called a meeting for all of the Espada," the pink-haired male replied, his voice low.

Ichigo narrowed his eyes.

"What for?"

"It doesn't say. Only that everyone is required to attend… including you, Ichigo," Szayel continued, his expression clouding over into another dark look.

Ichigo fell silent, wondering at what this could possibly be about. He didn't want to go anywhere near that oily bastard ever again, unless that moment would be to see his death.

"You said everyone, right?"

Szayel turned to the younger man, nodding.

"Does that include Gin and Tousen?"

Ichigo had a plan forming in his mind.

Szayel raised a finely sculpted eyebrow in curiosity.

"Yes it does, why?"

"Well… I think this could be our chance…" Ichigo began slowly, lifting his gaze to look at the Octava. "We know for a fact that whenever Aizen calls for meetings, either one of the other two defected captains stay in his quarters, to keep an eye on things. If he claims that Gin and Tousen should both be present, his room will be left unguarded. I could sneak in while you, Grimmjow and the others are at the meeting, and search his study. There's bound to be something he'll have in there which will give us an indication of what he's planning to do with us," he explained.

Szayel's features went from confused to shocked.

"Ichigo… no, you can't. It's too risky."

"But what other choice do we have? This may be the only chance we ever get! Szayel… please…" Ichigo reached out and clasped his hand tightly around the Octava's, the taller male gazing down at their hands for a moment, looking pained with the entire situation.

After what seemed like a lifetime, conflicted golden eyes gazing slowly into brown, the Octava let loose a sigh and nodded in a strained fashion.

"… Alright then," he whispered.

Ichigo gave a smile.

"Thank you…"

"I'll tell Grimmjow when he returns from his mission. He would be making his way back now, I should think."

Ichigo nodded, making to turn around and leave immediately, but was stopped by the gentle tug of his hand where it was still clasped around the other's. He looked back at Szayel.

"Ichigo, take this,"

Szayel pulled a small device down from a nearby shelf, opening Ichigo's palm and placing the black object on it.

Ichigo inspected the metallic chip which was in his hands.

He looked up at the other man questioningly.

"If Aizen has any proof somewhere, it won't be written down. It would be verbal. I've just finished developing this. This device switches off security footage within a radius of thirty metres. I've also modified it to record sound from inside the affected area. Attach it to a surface and lie in wait. Hide your reiatsu, and do _not _under any circumstances, allow yourself to be caught. It would kill both Grimmjow and myself if you were to be discovered," Szayel spoke quietly, his voice carrying all sense of urgency.

Ichigo locked his gaze firmly with the scientist's, his hand tightening around the device as he placed it in the pocket of his hakama.

"I promise," he spoke sincerely, his eyes burning with determination.

Szayel moved to wrap his strong, slender arms around the teen, the younger male instantly returning his affection.

"I'll work on re-writing the computer mainframe so any security systems Aizen may have running near his vicinity won't be alerted to the sudden deactivation of the footage monitors. Good luck," he whispered.

Ichigo nodded.

Then he was gone.

Szayel remained standing there for a minute longer, watching the boy's retreating form and running his hands through his hair, resting his palm against his forehead. His eyes glanced over towards the message on the monitor screen.

He swallowed the feeling of doubt and moved to access the corridor grids, entering a password and accessing the computer's database. He then moved to summon one of his Fracción.

* * *

"Szayel!"

The pink haired Octava turned his head and gave a slight smile as he saw Grimmjow walking towards him, waving a hand as he did so.

"Grimmjow, I'm glad you're back… how did it go?"

"Che, bastards didn't even stand a chance," the blue haired Sexta snorted as he drew up alongside the Octava, his blue eyes stony as he glanced around the hallway, as if checking to see if anyone else was present.

Satisfied that there weren't, he turned his head back to gaze at his lover, noticing immediately the turmoil that was clouding the golden depths of his eyes.

"What's wrong?" he asked quietly.

"Aizen has called a meeting…" the delicate voice responded.

Grimmjow nodded – he had received a message from Shawlong stating this as he was making his way back to Las Noches.

A shock of orange flickered in the corner of his eyes, and Grimmjow turned his head to see the figure of Ichigo standing a few feet away. His cyan eyes narrowed as he turned to look back at the Octava.

"That's not Ichigo, is it?" he questioned.

Szayel shook his head.

"Ichigo has gone to Aizen's quarters to see if he can find something which can be used as evidence."

Grimmjow blinked, his stomach feeling as if it had just churned.

"No…" he whispered.

Szayel sighed, running a hand through his hair.

"Szayelaporro-sama, we should get going," came a voice which sounded remarkably like Ichigo's from the orange haired impostor nearby.

Szayel flickered his gaze towards the man, his glasses reflecting the tired glint in his golden orbs.

"Verona, do not address me as such when you are in that form. It will immediately draw the suspicion of others. You have observed Ichigo when he has visited the lab – I expect you to act on what you have seen of his movements, and replicate them exactly. We cannot afford to destroy what may be his only chance to obtain evidence against Aizen."

The faux-Ichigo nodded his head in understanding, resting his arms behind his neck and leaning his head back against his hands, gazing at the ceiling.

Grimmjow's eyes widened.

"You used your Fracción, huh?" he turned back to his pink-haired lover.

Szayel nodded, sighing again and beginning to stroll forwards, Grimmjow and Verona following alongside him.

"Is there no limit to your ingenuity?" the Sexta chuckled as he watched faux-Ichigo from the corner of his eyes. If he had not known Ichigo as well as he did, he would have assumed that the boy alongside him really _was _the orange haired teen.

A very faint smile formed at the corner of Szayel's lips.

"I hope not… if this fails, then we can expect the worst to happen."

There was a pained silence which followed.

* * *

Ichigo held his breath as he snuck around the corner of the darkened hallway, the parting with Szayel still fresh in his mind and urging him to succeed in this.

He had to.

Too much was at stake here.

Clutching the device tightly in his fist, he stepped silently down the corridor, muffling as much of his movement as he could.

He could feel his heart pounding viciously against his chest the closer he came to Aizen's quarters. His plan was to enter the room and wait inside, concealed, until the three shinigami traitors returned. Just as he was about to reach the seemingly all-too-familiar door, he heard voices within.

His heart seemed to stop.

Taking a deep breath, willing his nerves to calm down lest his reiatsu seep through from his efforts to carefully mask it, Ichigo leaned his ear against the door, listening.

"So yer sure it'll be ready fer when we fight?"

Ichigo's eyes narrowed – it was Gin's voice.

"You know we cannot attack without it,"

This second voice was deep – it sounded like Tousen.

Ichigo's brows furrowed – they were supposed to be at the meeting. It appeared that Aizen had changed his mind about some things last minute.

"Patience, gentlemen. The Hougyoku will be ready, I assure you."

Ichigo's heart really did seem to stop.

That voice… that oily, honey-coated venomous voice… there was no doubt about it.

It was Aizen.

The orange haired teen felt as if his stomach had emptied and then turned around to finish itself off inside of him.

_No… they're not supposed to be here._

With a shaking hand, he pressed the small switch on the chip he was holding and placed it against the metallic surface of the door. A green light flashed from the device, indicating that the security systems in the hallway had been momentarily shut down in his direct vicinity.

His palms were sweating – he had to calm himself down, otherwise he really _would _be discovered.

_But… if they're here… then who's at the meeting?_

* * *

Cold brown eyes feigned with warmth swept across the room of gathered eleven. His gaze focused on the figure with bright orange hair for the briefest of moments before returning to the assemblage.

"Thank you all for coming," he spoke, deep voice dripping with well-practiced kindness.

From where they were standing in their row, Szayel and Grimmjow tried their best to remain calm and collected as they gazed indifferently towards the man now beginning his descent of the stairs, Gin and Tousen standing aside at the back of the room.

From somewhere behind them, leaning against the wall with his arms crossed, Verona – the faux-Ichigo – was gazing anywhere but at Aizen, the well-known irritated scowl of the teenager smoothed effortlessly onto his face.

So far, no one had suspected that the real Ichigo was not in attendance.

The Sexta and Octava could only hope that that would continue to be the case.

"I have gathered you here for this meeting, today, to reflect to you all some disturbing news," Aizen continued, an expression of graveness on his features.

"As all of you are well aware, Soul Society has been threatening to begin their attack on us for some months now. That time, is now at hand. The Gotei 13 will arrive in one week. Ichigo has been named a traitor to the shinigami. It is in our best interest to ensure that he does not come to any harm – as well as the interest to ensure we protect our own numbers, accordingly."

Ichigo's face formed into a frown.

The Espada cast glances around at him, and then at each other.

Szayel and Grimmjow continued to gaze at the opposite wall with an emotionless expression, though inwardly, they were seething.

"Szayelaporro," Aizen's voice rang out after a brief silence, drawing the remaining gazes towards the pink-haired Octava. The man in question stirred and slowly fixed his gaze on Aizen, his face not betraying the shock, suspicion and hatred he was feeling.

From two places over, Szayel was vaguely aware of Grimmjow straightening a little – he too was on full alert.

"Yes, Aizen-sama?" Szayel answered, his melodious voice clear though his mind was dripping with the venom which poisoned his tongue as he spoke those words.

"You have been conducting research into the effects of the captains' zanpakutous, have you not?"

Szayel froze, bowing his head.

"Yes, Aizen-sama," he responded.

"What are your results?"

"I believe that I have enough information to provide an extensive defence system to protect Las Noches from any attacks which may cause great severity in damage," he replied, not missing a beat.

Aizen nodded his head, seemingly pleased with this.

"Excellent," he smiled.

Szayel bowed his head again, his hands clenching tightly behind his back.

"Is that going to be enough?" someone called out; it was Aaroniero, the simultaneous high-pitched robotic tone followed by a deep baritone of voice of the Noveno Espada drew a few wary glances.

"I don't think some measly 'defence system' is likely to protect us all from the warriors of the Gotei 13. Aizen-sama, you will be at most risk."

"Would you prefer it then, Aaroniero, if I just so happened to crack the glass encasing your heads and extract data of your abilities to help strengthen the barriers of Las Noches? After all, you seem to have much faith in yourself, _Noveno_," Szayel replied coolly, enunciating the last word with a sneer.

Scattered sniggers rang out from the rest of the Espada, accompanied by an enraged gurgling sound coming from the tube-like head of the Noveno. He stepped forward, making to retort, when he was halted by Aizen who had moved forwards to stand in front of him.

"Patience, Aaroniero. Have patience and faith. It will be enough. Do you not agree, Ichigo-kun?"

All eyes glanced toward the orange haired youth leaning against the wall, who had yet to say anything. Szayel's and Grimmjow's eyes watched closely.

Ichigo slowly turned his head, inclining it towards Aizen with his eyes narrowed.

"The only thing I agree on, Aizen, is that this is a waste of time. You fed me this bullshit earlier on today. I don't see why I should be here now."

Szayel inwardly smiled – his Fracción certainly had the boy's fiery wit down to a tee.

From where he was standing, Grimmjow also felt a surge of satisfaction at the faux-Ichigo's response.

Aizen smiled. It was not an entirely pleasant one.

"That may be so, Ichigo-kun. But you will be fighting on the front line, after all, with your brothers and sisters,"

Ichigo merely scoffed, returning his gaze towards the opposite wall – scowl once again in place.

Aizen continued to smile, his gaze sweeping back towards the remaining ten.

"We attack in exactly one week – we will destroy the Gotei 13 and create the King's Key. We shall turn the tables on the shinigami's feeble beliefs, and prove that it is we, who shall reign victorious. You are dismissed,"

And with that, the assembled lines dispersed.

* * *

Ichigo's heart continued to pound heavily against his chest – he could not believe what he was hearing.

"So there really was no need fer tha boy ter begin with, was there?" Gin mused, his jokey voice light and cheerful.

A deep chuckle sounded from inside.

"There was, Gin. But not so much so that I need to solely rely on him. True, he was good bait to lure the Gotei 13 into attack, but his power is greatly needed to ensure that he enacts his revenge on them. I need not waste one finger on picking them off," Aizen explained.

"Then the Hougyoku?" It was Tousen.

"It has awakened. Its power is what shall be needed for me to enter the Spirit Realm to confront the King after the Espada aid Ichigo in attacking the protection squads. They, too, have proven useful in my purposes."

"Oh? Yer sayin' ya don't care what happens to 'em?"

"I do not. They are merely tools, subordinates. Nothing more. They will make a great diversion for me."

Ichigo's hand was shaking from where he was clenching his fist, white-hot rage boiling deep inside of him. He desperately willed himself to keep his reiatsu in check.

He knew what Aizen had wanted him for, and he knew that the traitor was stringing along his Espada with glorified lies, but to hear it so bluntly from the man's mouth – his willingness to kill off the ten that Ichigo had grown to consider a family, including two whom the teen cared deeply about…

It was too much.

"Yer sure yer want them to find out about that? I don't think they'd take that too well, somehow," Gin teased.

There was another chuckle.

"It matters not if they find out. They will all be defeated before that happens."

Barely able to contain his shaking breath, Ichigo pressed the switch on the chip, its green light darkening to red as he removed it from the wall.

He had it.

The cold, hard evidence which would hopefully turn things around in this war.

As silently as he had arrived, Ichigo took off, being careful to slow his steps down so as to avoid any movement being detected from him from within Aizen's quarters.

His heart was hammering wildly – now having reached the end of the corridor to turn left, Ichigo waited a few more moments before he hurriedly burst away in sonido.

In Aizen's quarters, a silver haired snake-grinned man turned to walk out of the door, his hands folding under the sweeping sleeves of his coat upon excusing himself from the shinigami traitor's presence.

Ichimaru Gin opened his eyes slowly in a rare occurrence as he gazed down the hall from which he knew Ichigo had been eavesdropping.

_I hope ya heard what ya needed, Ichigo-kun._

* * *

Bursting through to the roomy laboratory, Ichigo didn't even pause for breath as he quickly shut the door behind him, racing past the rows of metal lined tables and beakers to head towards the central monitoring systems.

Two heads, one blue haired and the other pink, lifted up the moment they heard the teen enter.

"Ichigo!" Grimmjow cried out, racing forwards with Szayel to wrap strong arms around the youth, keeping him steady as he panted, trying to regain his breath.

Szayel quickly moved to go find something for the teen to drink.

"Ichi, are you ok? What happened?" Grimmjow's voice was thick with worry as he gazed down at the orange haired male – his face was red with exertion and he clutched a black object in his hands. The Sexta's arms tightened around the boy, pulling him close against his chest.

Ichigo slowly regained his breath, sighing and falling gratefully into the arms of the taller male.

"'M… I'm fine… nothing happened," he managed to get out, panting heavily and taking deep, calming breaths. He looked up and gazed into the cyan blue eyes of the man holding him, offering an easy smile which the Sexta returned, albeit with some confusion.

Szayel approached with a glass of water, which Ichigo accepted, turning to smile at the pink haired Octava.

"Thank you…" he added, meaning it for both of them.

They nodded to show they understood.

Ichigo downed his water and then Grimmjow pulled out a nearby chair, motioning Ichigo to sit in it, which the latter did.

Szayel and Grimmjow remained standing, the two Espada waiting patiently for him to speak.

"I found it," he began, placing the chip in one of Szayel's hands.

Golden and blue eyes widened in disbelief.

"Shit! You serious?" Grimmjow breathed.

Ichigo turned his head to gaze at the blue haired man. He gave a lopsided grin.

Grimmjow could only continue to blink, still unable to believe what he had heard.

Szayel lifted the hand Ichigo had placed the device in and gazed at it for a moment, studying it. A wide smile broke out on his lips.

"Ichigo, you really did it…" the Octava's eyes lit up with relief.

Ichigo continued to grin.

Grimmjow let loose the breath he had been holding, rubbing his hands over his eyes and giving a faint laugh.

"Shit, Ichi… ya had me really worried when I found out what you were doing from Szayel," he sighed.

Ichigo gave an apologetic smile.

"I'm sorry… anyway, there's something else I need to tell you two," he spoke up, a little louder this time causing both of his companions to raise their heads and gaze at him.

"... I don't think Aizen was at the meeting."

Two pairs of eyes widened.

"It was—"

"—Kyouka Suigetsu."

"Right…" Ichigo added, looking at the Octava whom had correctly finished off Ichigo's sentence for him.

Grimmjow's eyes narrowed.

"I should have guessed as much…" the scientist continued, sighing.

"That would explain how the readings in the main hall fluctuated. They picked up Kyouka Suigetsu's wavelengths. Grimmjow and I were discussing this just before you arrived."

Ichigo bit his lip in thought.

Szayel gazed into the brown and blue eyes of the other males, before moving to place the chip in the central computer system, stepping back as the monitors read the incoming information and accessed the sound file.

As they listened to the conversation which Ichigo had overheard a short while previously, the mood darkened to such intense levels that the very air seemed to be dense with killing intent.

When it had ended, all was silent for a very long time.

"I'm going to rip his fucking head off," Grimmjow broke the silence, his voice so low it came across as a rumbling growl, his teeth bared viciously almost to match the mask sitting on his right cheek.

Szayel's face was clouded in a look of silent wrath which clearly communicated that he agreed wholeheartedly with Grimmjow.

Ichigo sighed, lowering his head and nodding.

"You know... everything's so twisted when you think about all of this," the orangehead murmured after a while, his eyes taking on a faraway look.

Szayel and Grimmjow eyed him with slight confusion.

"What is?"

Ichigo looked back to face them, his heart flipping painfully.

"This. The war. Soul Society. Hueco Mundo. Everything," he motioned around him.

Grimmjow laughed humourlessly.

Ichigo's eyes widened as he suddenly felt warm fingers cup his cheek from his side, turning his head so his lips were met with a warm, solid mouth possessively claiming his own. Ichigo's lips parted in surprise, his body frozen momentarily, allowing Grimmjow to immediately deepen the kiss whilst he wound his fingers through orange locks.

The Sexta tasted like spiced cinnamon, something which Ichigo found as equally intoxicating as Szayel's sweet scented taste.

A low growl rumbled through the blue haired man's throat as Ichigo relaxed after a moment, reaching up to gently grab a fistful of his unruly hair, the action causing both men to pant and moan faintly.

Grimmjow's kiss was more dominating than Szayel's, yet Ichigo still felt his heart flutter skittishly nevertheless.

A hot, dampened tongue slicked past his lips, causing Ichigo to gasp faintly as it playfully toyed just millimetres inside the orangehead's mouth, tasting behind his lips only to pull out and dab at the brief trickle of saliva caused by it.

Ichigo was left breathless when Grimmjow pulled him closer, only to impart teasing, erratic kisses along the boy's lips and chin – the older male tasting then pulling away a centimetre, only to continue tasting hungrily again. He bit down gently on Ichigo's bottom lip, making the teen groan and grip blue locks of hair tighter, the Sexta's tongue sliding once more over reddened pliant lips and swallowing the soft moans emitted from Ichigo's throat as he claimed the youth's mouth hotly once more, Ichigo panting softly and sliding his lips eagerly up against the other males', seeking more of that intoxicating taste.

"Wha... what was that for?" Ichigo panted heavily, still in a state of dazed pleasantness when the taller male pulled away a moment later, giving a final lap of his tongue over Ichigo's inviting mouth and sending pleasurable shivers down Ichigo's spine.

Grimmjow only shrugged, a devilish smile forming on his lips.

"One, because you worried the fucking shit out of me, Kurosaki. Two, because ya actually managed to pull this off safely. And three, if you think you're gonna let Szayel have all the glory to himself from earlier, you are sadly mistaken," the blue haired man replied, shooting a triumphant look over towards the Octava, who shook his head and chuckled as he ran a hand through his hair.

Ichigo snorted a laugh.

"Well excuse me..." he commented offhandedly.

He was met with amused scoffs.

"... This is really it then, isn't it?" Grimmjow spoke up a moment later, his tone now quiet and serious. "We're so close to finally fucking that dickhead over for everything he's worth."

Szayel murmured in faint agreement.

Ichigo sighed, closing his eyes.

"Yeah…"

Having the evidence was one thing. Ensuring they all lived to see this through was another matter entirely.

* * *

**A/N: ... Yep. **

**The only thing I can say in my defence is... there was a time skip ... gotta let them have a moment at some point in time, right? :P BUT! If you were one of the people lurking around reading this and thinking to yourself "God I wish they'd fucking kiss already"... you have your fanservice. Huzzah! ... I hope you enjoyed :3**

**(Also... please don't flame me if that 'proof' wasn't good enough xD It's quite difficult writing stories like this :P) **

**See you next chapter :D ... if you're lucky, and if you want, I can let them have another 'moment' for you :P I'll leave that up to you to decide *appears behind the three of them and knocks their heads together so their lips connect* ... mission accomplished. Now, you guys. Strip off. 8D **


	6. The Turning of the Tide

**A/N: Some people wanted another 'moment', so here you go! More fluffiness :3 This chapter is quite short BUT, I'll make up for it next chapter. Yes... just you wait until next chapter... things happen. ANYWAY as always, my deepest gratitude to those who have reviewed, placed favourites and have followed :'D**

* * *

**Chapter 6: The Turning of the Tide **

Resting a long fingered hand against his cheek, the fingertips brushing his forehead causing a slip of a brown curl to slide across the bridge of his nose, Aizen Sousuke gave an amused smirk. His brown eyes were alight with an inner mirth.

How interesting things had become, indeed.

He was perfectly aware of Kurosaki Ichigo's presence outside of his quarters, eavesdropping, no doubt, on the conversation he had held with Ichimaru Gin and Tousen Kaname some few hours ago.

Though the boy could now perfect the masking of his reiatsu, it did not take much for the Hougyoku to resonate with the presence of a Hollow – alerting Aizen immediately to the youth outside.

The brown haired traitor absentmindedly ran his hand over his chest to touch the crystal which was embedded inside his body.

He could think of a perfect punishment for the boy.

Fitting for one who was willing to die for those he loved.

* * *

Opening his eyes slowly, the light streaming through the window alerting his numbed senses, Ichigo groaned faintly as his body pulled him out of the sleep he had fallen into.

He couldn't remember ever having slept so thoroughly before.

He focused on his breathing, flitting his eyes lazily in some attempt to get them to function and stay opened.

When they finally did their job, Ichigo stifled a yawn and blinked, bringing up a hand to rub his eyes clear of the drowsy blur marking his vision.

It was then that he noticed he was resting against a warm, firm chest.

Realisation flooding back to his sleep-fogged brain, kick-starting Ichigo's memory, he was unable to help the grin that came to his lips when he turned his head slightly to gaze at the sleeping form of Grimmjow behind him; the Sexta's arms were wrapped in a protective manner around the orangehead's waist, holding the teen firmly to him.

Ichigo couldn't help but follow the way the taller male's chest rose and fell peacefully under the youth's head, his heartbeat strong, and the sound of his breathing gentle. Grimmjow's eyes were closed, the teal markings on his bottom lids seeming to draw Ichigo's attention to just how captivating his eyes really were. They still appeared intense, even though the almost unreal blue of his irises was not exposed.

Ichigo's gaze then fell to the mass of blue hair framing the man's face; it was ruffled from sleep and made to make the taller male have an even more wild appearance when resting than he did when he was awake. It accentuated the devilishly handsome appearance of the Sexta, who was an exciting mix of danger and seduction all at once. Ichigo shivered briefly.

He looked to the jaw-like mask that donned the man's right cheek. He had never really taken the time to study it in-depth before, so he reached out and lightly touched his fingertips to the boned structure, tracing around the skeletal teeth-like protrusions.

He grinned again when he saw the faintest twitch of an eyebrow as the Sexta reacted to the teen's touch in his sleep.

As Ichigo continued with his exploration of the mask, he looked around at the room they were in. They were currently lying on a plush large-sized leather couch in Szayel's room which was adjoined at the back of his extensive laboratory. The walls were a white colour, though the red of the carpet and the darkened wood of the furniture broke up the monotony of the whitened shade which was only too prevalent within Las Noches. A door was closed at the far side of the wall, the room behind it being the bedroom.

Ichigo reckoned he and Grimmjow had only been sleeping for a few hours; the last thing he remembered before closing his eyes was sharing Aizen's words concerning the Espada with his two companions.

His lips still tingled pleasurably from the passionate, reassuring kisses he had received. He absentmindedly ran his tongue over his lips, as if searching for anymore of the exotic tastes he had been assaulted with from their mouths earlier on the previous day.

The orangehead assumed that Szayel had left to continue working on the final steps for his drug which would negate Kyouka Suigetsu.

"Ya gonna keep playin' with that or come down here and wake me up properly?"

Ichigo blinked as the Sexta's sleep-husked voice spoke up quietly and the teen looked down, only to find cyan blue eyes gazing intently at him, the man's lips now forming into a wide grin.

Ichigo scoffed, chuckling as he paused his tracing along the mask on Grimmjow's cheek and he leant forwards to press his lips against the warm firmness of the taller man's mouth.

A satisfied rumble which sounded remarkably close to a purr sounded from deep within Grimmjow's throat as he raised an arm from Ichigo's waist to trace the backs of his fingertips against the orangette's cheek. A faint moan left Ichigo's mouth when the Sexta flicked his tongue playfully against Ichigo's bottom lip, drawing the teen in closer to him on the couch, deepening the kiss and soft pants for breath escaping their lips as their mouths slid together at a steadily harder pace.

The Sexta grinned against Ichigo's lips as the teen gave another faint pleasurable groan, Grimmjow having bit down teasingly against that soft inviting mouth and covering the reddened skin with smaller, kittenish nips and flicks of his tongue. Ichigo was left breathless and gasping faintly when the blue haired man pressed his mouth firmly once more to the teen's lips in a final, possessive kiss - the Sexta resting his head back against the couch pillow as he pulled slowly away, grunting faintly in satisfaction of their morning greeting.

Ichigo couldn't help the slight grin on his mouth which echoed Grimmjow's as he licked his lips, still panting as he resumed his tracing of the outline of Grimmjow's Hollow mask.

"You ok Ichi?" the blue eyed man's face was filled with a questioning expression.

Ichigo nodded.

"I was just about to wake you both up." A cheerful tone sounded from the doorway, preventing anything else being said.

Grimmjow and Ichigo looked up to see Szayel standing there, eyeing the scene with amusement and longing in his eyes.

"Oh really? How were you going to do that, then?" Grimmjow grinned as the pink-haired man moved closer.

"One must reserve some professional secrets now, mustn't one?" the Octava replied, winking an eye suggestively behind his white rimmed glasses and making the other two chuckle.

"He's a kinky bastard." Grimmjow muttered near Ichigo's ear.

"Oh but you love it," Szayel murmured silkily, smiling thoughtfully as he ran his hands through Ichigo's hair, snaking his other hand towards Grimmjow's other cheek.

Grimmjow scoffed in some sort of agreement whilst Ichigo laughed, leaning into the touch of the Octava.

"Morning Ichigo..." Szayel whispered, pressing his lips to the shell of the orangehead's ear. Ichigo half murmured, half moaned some variant of "good morning" in response.

Szayel hummed appreciatively before moving down and administering the same to Grimmjow, who reacted in much the same way as Ichigo did as the Octava ran his lips over the Sexta's sensitive ear.

Ichigo sighed in content, eyeing his other companion. Szayel, like Grimmjow, had a beautifully seductive and dangerous air despite the misleading delicacy of his features. His skin was pale, and yet though a slighter figure than Grimmjow or Ichigo, he was just as strong as the two. His pink hair brushed gently over his shoulders, his glasses accentuating his scholarly appearance. His golden eyes contained a deep passion and fire which set Ichigo's heart alight.

Szayel had straightened himself up, his golden eyes sweeping over the two.

"I've finished with the drug." He announced.

Brown and blue eyes blinked.

"Already?!"

Szayel raised a finely sculpted eyebrow, scoffing a little at Grimmjow's shocked reaction.

"Yes, 'already'." He chuckled.

"I thought you said it would take you three days?" Ichigo questioned.

Szayel's lips pulled into a grin.

"I did… but don't completely write off a genius such as myself. Even the brilliant often make mistakes." He replied.

He received two chuckles in response.

Szayel's expression grew more serious.

"We should make this known to the rest of the Espada," he murmured quietly.

Grimmjow sighed, making to sit up, Ichigo helping pull him into a seated position on the couch.

"Yeah… we should." The blue haired man muttered, running a hand through his already messy locks.

Ichigo could feel his gut churning as he got off the couch.

If they were to get the Espada to see that Aizen had been using them all right from the start, it would make things easier and would allow for him to finally be defeated once the Gotei 13 attacked.

He refused to think about what would happen if they weren't able to pull this off.

But most importantly, he refused to allow Soul Society to get in the way when the Espada met them for attack.

He would allow no harm to come to his family.

Especially the two whom he deeply cared about.

* * *

Eight pairs of eyes scrutinised the three standing before them with careful and suspicious gazes.

"What is the meaning of this?" Baraggan called out, his ancient commanding tone having lost none of its potency from his days as the original Lord of Hueco Mundo.

Szayel, Grimmjow and Ichigo glanced around at the Segunda.

"We've come to tell you all some important information we think you should be made aware of." Szayel calmly responded, his voice reaching each and every person gathered in the silent space.

Minutes after the three had left Szayel's room, the Octava had went about sending an urgent requested meeting for the remaining Espada from the main computer drive located in his laboratory. The Espada were to meet in one of the glass-framed rooms which overlooked the sands of Hueco Mundo, a common meeting area for the ten in times when they would gather and discuss issues which needed addressing.

Szayel had deactivated the cameras and security systems within that space for extra measure.

They had a limited time to speak.

"What is it?" Zommari called from near the back.

Grimmjow stepped forward and placed the small disc he had been holding onto the middle of the black table the remaining eight were seated around.

Numerous gazes eyed the device dubiously.

"Ya'd better 'ave some good reason fer all this childish shit, Sexta." Nnoitra jeered from the corner.

Grimmjow looked at him with a sidewards glance.

"I do as a matter of fact. And you'd all better damn well listen to everything Ichi and Szayel tell you. Otherwise you'll be fucked over before you even get out on that battlefield." He warned harshly.

Nnoitra frowned at him.

Szayel cleared his throat quietly, drawing attention back to him as he pressed a button he held in his hand.

Sounds of people talking began to play from the disc on the table, making conversations cease once more.

"_So there really was no need fer tha boy ter begin with, was there?" _

"_There was, Gin. But not so much so that I need to solely rely on him. True, he was good bait to lure the Gotei 13 into attack, but his power is greatly needed to ensure that he enacts his revenge on them. I need not waste one finger on picking them off." _

"_Then the Hougyoku?"_

"_It has awakened. Its power is what shall be needed for me to enter the Spirit Realm to confront the King after the Espada aid Ichigo in attacking the protection squads. They, too, have proven useful in my purposes."_

"_Oh? Yer sayin' ya don't care what happens to 'em?"_

"_I do not. They are merely tools, subordinates. Nothing more. They will make a great diversion for me."_

"_Yer sure yer want them to find out about that? I don't think they'd take that too well, somehow." _

"_It matters not if they find out. They will all be defeated before that happens."_

The recording ended.

The silence was deafening.

"See what your precious 'master' has been saying about each and every one of us this whole time," Szayel spoke up after a moment, his voice still quiet. "This is the truth. One which you have been blind to through his lies and deceit."

"Didn't I tell you, Ulquiorra, Yammy, that he would end up destroying all three of our worlds?" Ichigo spoke up for the first time upon entering the room, his brown-eyed gaze sweeping over towards the pale-skinned man and the beefy heavyset one.

Yammy's huge hands clenched by his sides, his expression very much agitated.

For once, Ulquiorra was unable to say anything to defend Aizen's actions. Ichigo, Szayel and Grimmjow noted with smug expressions that for perhaps the first time, the Cuarto looked as if he was completely at a loss for words.

His green-eyed gaze fell to the table.

"Well, I knew it." A watery voice spoke up, accompanied by the jingle of metal as someone shifted in the corner.

It was Nnoitra.

"'Bout fuckin' time we got the dirt dug up on 'im."

"Agreed." Starrk added, his voice no longer laced with its usual tiredness. On the contrary, he was quite awake by now.

"I admit I'm … having trouble coming to terms with all of this," Harribel spoke quietly, her voice hesitant, "but I cannot ignore what I have just heard."

There were similar mutterings around the room.

Szayel, Grimmjow and Ichigo nodded, pleased that they were able to get through to the rest of them with relative ease.

"Then you'll help me?" Ichigo quietly asked, his gaze sweeping over each of the eight.

There was no hesitancy when everyone nodded in the affirmative - calls and cries for Aizen's downfall already filling the room with its raucous clamour.

Ichigo felt a wide smile form on his lips, and it was as if a great weight had been lifted from his shoulders.

"Thank you…" he whispered.

From beside him, Grimmjow and Szayel also grinned at the positive response towards their plea. With Ichigo now being backed by all of the Espada, they could begin to undo all of the wrong that Aizen had caused them.

They could see him overthrown at last.

The Sexta and Octava would continue to stand by their young companion through this and whatever else threatened him from Soul Society and beyond, no matter what.

From outside the meeting room, a lone man stood and listened to the uproar from inside.

His smile was satisfied.

Ichimaru Gin turned away, walking down the corridor.

* * *

"But what are we gonna do 'bout Soul Society?" Nnoitra asked as soon as everyone had quietened down.

All eyes turned to look at him.

"Though it will be a surprise for them that we will turn on Aizen, it still doesn't mean to say that they will necessarily forgive us for seeing us do so. We are still the enemy. Neither side are sympathetic in their ways." Harribel pointed out.

Eyes narrowed.

This was true.

Ichigo stepped forward.

"I'll take care of them." He spoke up, his voice strong.

Szayel and Grimmjow glanced at him.

"Surely you don't mean alone, right? You're wanted by Soul Society, Ichigo. They'd as soon as kill you as look at you." Starrk noted, an eyebrow raised.

"He has a point, Ichi…" Grimmjow whispered quietly with concern to the orangehead.

Szayel nodded, chewing his bottom lip.

Ichigo's eyes remained fixed in their determined gaze.

"I won't be alone…" he began, "besides, I think that they will listen to me if I ask to speak, first. No doubt they would want an explanation for my actions before they attempt to cut my head off. But if they won't listen… so be it. We'll strike them down like we will with Aizen."

This response and determination of the boy seemed to convince the Espada, putting them at ease with the decision.

None of them had any love for Soul Society, anyway.

"You're sure about this, Ichigo?" Szayel murmured once the rest of the eight assembled fell into their own conversations on the matter.

Ichigo nodded, meeting golden eyes.

"I am."

"Well I don't think we'll get a more 'fuck with me, I'll tear your genitals off' response than that," Grimmjow commented offhandedly.

Szayel and Ichigo blinked, looks of amusement in their eyes.

"Just fer the record, I'd like to keep mine, Ichi." The Sexta grinned, winking suggestively.

The orangehead snorted.

"Consider them safe and sound." He chuckled.

Grimmjow made a pumping motion with his fist, grinning widely again when the teen snorted with laughter once more.

Szayel sighed, shaking his head and flicking a stray lock of hair past his ear.

"As unashamed as always, my dear Sexta." He murmured.

"You know you both love it." Grimmjow said in a low voice, his tone once more sounding like a deep purr.

Ichigo quickly looked away, trying to hide the faint blush forming on his cheeks.

Fuck.

He really did.

* * *

Warning clamours rang throughout the entirety of the streets and districts within Seireitei; claps of hammer on wood pounding in intervals of three, echoing along the breeze.

A lone voice rose high and clear above all others.

"_Attention! Attention! All taichous and fukutaichous are to report to the First Division immediately! Repeat! Attention! Attention! All taichous and fukutaichous are to report to the First Division immediately!"_

Member of 13th Division of the Gotei 13, Kuchiki Rukia, looked up as she heard the summons. She turned to gaze at her redheaded friend, fukutaichou of 6th Division, Abarai Renji, whom she had been sitting next to moments before.

"Renji…" she called quietly, her voice and face filled with a heavy weight.

Renji sighed, turning around to look at his long-time childhood friend.

"Ichigo…" she murmured, just as quietly.

He gazed hardly at her.

"Ichigo's got something up his sleeve. Don't worry about it, Rukia. He'll find some way to bring Aizen and the rest of 'em down."

She sighed, her indigo eyes staring out unseeingly at the paved path leading towards a glittering fishpond.

"We abandoned him…"

Renji tried to resist rolling his eyes.

"This again? Rukia, it was for his own good! He'd understand. We'd never purposely try to hurt him like that."

She turned her gaze to look up at her friend – Renji immediately taking a step back at the lethal glance she threw him.

"And now he's been sentenced to death for being a traitor. No, we _really _haven't hurt him, have we?" she replied sarcastically.

Renji struggled with his words for a few moments, before sighing heavily and rubbing the back of his neck.

"I have to go to the meeting." He mumbled.

Rukia let loose an exasperated breath, standing up and walking past her friend, pausing when she was parallel with him.

"And here I thought you were friends with him, too." She spat quietly, her voice low as she strode off towards her Division barracks.

Renji stood there, blinking with widened eyes before swallowing thickly and quickly racing over to the First Division.

He was glad that he wasn't the last one to arrive there when he stepped through the large wooden doors ten minutes later; glancing around, Renji noticed that they were still awaiting the presence of 2nd Division's fukutaichou, Oomaeda Marechiyo, and 13th Division's taichou, Ukitake Juushirou.

He hurriedly stepped into line behind his captain, Kuchiki Byakuya, and remained silent.

Two minutes later the remaining members arrived and soutaichou Yamamoto Genryuusai Shigekuni stepped forth.

"Taichous and fukutaichous of the Gotei 13," he began, his regal voice echoing throughout the hall, "war has been openly declared against shinigami traitors Aizen Sousuke, Ichimaru Gin, Tousen Kaname, and Kurosaki Ichigo. We will march upon them in five days' time to defend the laws and rights of Soul Society. Aizen Sousuke is in possession of the Hougyoku. We must not let him use it to enter the Spirit Realm. Do not hesitate to attack the traitors or the Espada that have been confirmed as our opponents. Your orders are to leave none alive."

He lifted his cane, striking it down onto the wooden floor.

Renji sighed.

_Ichigo, you better have a damn good reason for defecting_.

_When next we meet, I'll have no choice._

_I'm sorry. _

* * *

Lifeless.

Brittle.

Dead.

That was how he perceived the landscape of Hueco Mundo.

Ichigo sighed, resting his forehead against the cool glass of the window. He closed his eyes to shut away the sight of the ever-black sky, the moon continuing its ageless progression through the ebony night.

It had been four days.

Four days since Aizen had told him Soul Society was preparing for their attack.

Four days since he had recorded the evidence of Aizen's betrayal – in his own words, no less.

Four days since the Espada had voiced their anger at Aizen's actions, and had vowed to see him brought down.

And four days since he had last seen Szayel and Grimmjow.

He sighed again.

Somewhere in the back of his mind he knew that their being summoned to leave Las Noches on a mission out in Hueco Mundo had been a little too convenient, straight after that meeting with the Espada.

But he could not do anything about it.

Even if he had tried.

They had spent half an hour trying to calm him down enough to make him see that his reacting to this would lessen his chances of getting to Aizen.

He had eventually managed to see the sense in their reasoning, finally settling himself enough to fall asleep being held closely against the both of them.

When he had awoken the next morning, they were gone.

"For fuck's sake." He whispered heavily, pressing his forehead against the glass more.

He was really starting to worry so much that his reiatsu was even becoming affected.

"Is something the matter, Ichigo-kun?"

Ichigo froze, his palm clenching tighter from where it was resting against the glass above his head.

He bit back an angered growl.

His skin crawled as the reiatsu of the brown haired man surrounded him, Aizen moving to stand alongside the orangette.

How Ichigo wanted to sever this man next to him like the very void of a garganta which severed the sky.

"Yeah. Get the fuck away from me." He said lowly, his reiatsu flickering.

Aizen chuckled.

"As eloquent as always, my dear boy."

Ichigo growled a barely audible comment of something along the lines of where Aizen could take eloquence and stick it somewhere only his mother would look.

"I would have thought you would be happier, Ichigo-kun. After all, your… friends… Szayelaporro and Grimmjow, will be back soon."

Ichigo didn't say anything. He only continued to seethe at the man who, above everything else wrong in the world he had done, had sent his partners away in the first place.

"Their mission went successfully. Which is perhaps more than I can say for you." Aizen continued, his tone quiet.

Ichigo froze again, slowly turning his gaze to the right to look suspiciously at the taller male.

"What are you talking about?" his voice was a whisper.

Aizen's mouth widened into a smirk, a hint of malice shining in his cold brown eyes.

"What am I talking about? I think you may already have some idea, Ichigo-kun. Eavesdropping on me the other day… did you honestly think I would not notice?"

Ichigo swallowed, gazing firmly back out at the land below.

"No." He replied truthfully.

Aizen chuckled again.

"I do admire your tenacity, Ichigo-kun. It certainly gets you into the most interesting of situations."

"Thanks." The teen answered stiffly.

"That was not a compliment..." Aizen murmured.

His tone had changed – it had suddenly become more menacing, all traces of its usual ingratiating oiliness wiped in an instant.

Ichigo felt warning sirens flare throughout his body.

He heard a fizzling sound from somewhere close by; heated crackles of reiatsu flickered in the air. His skin began tingling from the reaction to the power now building in the room.

Ichigo quickly turned his head to see Aizen's face lit from the deep purple glow radiating around his hand, his eyes flashing with the illumination and his teeth bared into an ugly grin.

Ichigo jumped back, tensing his legs to burst away in sonido.

Shit.

Why didn't he bring Zangetsu?

"It's time I reward you for your efforts, Ichigo. Soul Society shall indeed fall short of pity for you now."

Ichigo truly felt pure fear for the first time as Aizen bore down on him; the traitor moving so fast Ichigo couldn't figure out if he had used sonido or not, the orange haired youth cried out as a long hand grabbed onto a fistful of his hair, yanking the teen's head back with a painful tug and causing him to cry out louder as his eyes began watering.

"G-GET THE FUCK OFF OF ME!" he bellowed.

A dangerous chuckle from close to his ear cut his cry short.

He felt the man's reiatsu-pulsing hand shove up against his stomach.

"GET… GET OFF! CER—"

Ichigo's weak grappling to pull himself away, charging up a Cero from his hand, fell short as he realised Aizen had silently immobilised him with kidou.

He yelled, crying out and struggling against the invisible coils of power which were restricting his movement. He had even tried raising his reiatsu to burst free from pure willpower, but it was useless. The binds were too strong.

This man's kidou was beyond anything experienced before.

He was powerless to move, powerless to do anything but watch and scream as sharp fingernails dug into the flesh of his stomach from under his jacket. The skin heated and flared, seeming to cry out in protest of its own as blazing purple tendrils of reiatsu burst forth, marking his abdomen in two burning, searing lines.

Aizen's lips moved, Ichigo barely able to hear the words spoken over his bleeding cries of pain.

"_Bakudou no Hyakusan: Shirushi*"_

"AAAAARRRRRRRGGGGGHHHHH!"

It took Ichigo only a few seconds to realise that the ear-splitting scream assaulting his ears was his own.

His whole body felt as if it was on fire.

His stomach raged with the feeling of molten flame seeping through his very skin, his very soul, as though branding him with something twisted, foreign and malevolent.

Tears were streaming from his cheeks, his vision growing black spots as he felt weaker. He had even started to sobbingly plead with the man to stop.

The pain ripped through his body like a scythe, his limbs twitching against the bonds holding him - his head flew back and a shattering scream tore through the air once more as the coursing heat exploded inside of him; his tortured cries of agony continued to burn his throat even as his scalding skin flared to cool down to normal temperature, leaving him shaking and shivering. The invisible kidou bindings around him released.

His tears continued to fall, Ichigo crying as he hadn't cried since he was a small child. His arms wrapped around himself, holding his body tightly as he convulsed. His warm brown eyes were widened and watery; high screams and hitching gasps for breath mingled with his cries for it all to end.

Aizen released him; Ichigo fell to the ground with a loud _thud_, immediately curling up and gripping his abdomen. Choking, panting and groaning, his wailing sobs made him retch and almost violently empty the contents of his stomach.

"Welcome to the Espada, _Undécimo_," Aizen smiled, the cruel malice never leaving his face as he swept away from the broken teen.

His tears and overwhelming pain garbling his ability to speak, Ichigo choked again, ripping open his jacket to reveal a gothic '11' seared in red-hot lines over his abdomen.

It faded to a permanent black before his very eyes.

* * *

**A/N: *Shirushi = sign, mark, indication, symbol (according to my Japanese dictionary here)**

**(Is Undécimo correct?)**


	7. Reaffirmations of the Heart

**A/N: To the guest reviewer from last chapter: Yes, Aizen is indeed an ass *nods head* **

**Phheewww I got some real backlash for chapter 6, didn't I? Believe me - there was a point to all that, I assure you! Regardless, I'd like to keep thanking you again everyone for all the reviews and favourites and follows (even though some reviews may have been death threats...) ANYWAY some serious shit is going down now :P **

**THE MOMENT YOU HAVE BEEN WAITING FOR HAS ARRIVED! Yes, this chapter has LE SEX! 8D (yay!) It is a VERY long segment (and a little detailed?) I am warning you RIGHT NOW. **

**Warnings:**** Blowjob, threesome, slight dirty talk, handjob, fingering, some fluffiness (and I'm saying it here again: LENGTHY SEX SCENE) **

**By the way, there is a reason why this story is rated M. I won't say anything else (underage readers probably shouldn't be reading this story anyway, but... there ARE more detailed stories out there on this site which underage readers still get their hands on, so I suppose I shouldn't be saying that). **

* * *

**Chapter 7: Reaffirmations of the Heart **

Sheathing his zanpakutou, Grimmjow wiped his brow and shivered slightly, drawing the tan coloured cloak around him closer in an effort to block out the numbing cold of the air around him.

He threw a disgusted look at the remains of the rogue Hollow they were sent to eradicate.

Who knew it would take them four days to track down the little bastard?

_Well… it ain't really little… but the point still stands_, he added as an afterthought, glancing again at the mountainous figure of the parasitic worm which had almost cost him an arm or a leg a few times.

Luckily, he had only gotten away with one deep wound on his left shoulder. It was nothing that time wouldn't heal.

Or Szayel.

He lifted his head as he saw the pink-haired scientist approach, sheathing his own zanpakutou with a weary expression on his face.

He had managed to bring down the Hollow's 'friend' and still come away looking and smelling like a rose.

Grimmjow scoffed, his lips pulling into a grin – that was just like him, too.

Szayel removed a hand-held scanning device from within the pocket of his cloak, the slighter male bending down to hold the equipment over the remains of the Hollow, recording its reiatsu levels and scraping off some tissue samples of its internal organ structure for use in future experiments before replacing the device back in his pocket.

"Thank God that's over an' done with." The Sexta sighed heavily, sitting himself down on a nearby rock as the Octava pulled up beside him, taking out some bandages and beginning to tend to Grimmjow's wound.

He received a sigh of agreement in response.

"Aizen meant to separate us." Szayel spoke up quietly, his golden eyes set with worry and a quiet anger as he continued winding the bandages around the Sexta's shoulder.

Grimmjow nodded. He knew it too.

"I hope Ichi's gonna be ok..." he replied, his voice a near whisper. He was trying to keep his rage in check.

Szayel chewed his lip, his face betraying every emotion of concern he was feeling inside.

Grimmjow looked at him, his eyes softening as he reached out his free hand and cupped it underneath the delicate man's chin, drawing golden eyes up to meet cyan blue.

"Hey…"

He leaned forwards, capturing soft petal coloured lips in a warm, reassuring kiss. He felt Szayel immediately respond, sliding his mouth back in return with a faint moan of gratitude leaving his throat. Grimmjow pressed down firmer, gently flicking his tongue over the other's lips before pulling away slowly a moment later, stroking the Octava's cheek.

Szayel sighed softly, his eyes closing for a moment.

"Thank you…" he whispered.

Grimmjow ran a hand through his lover's silken locks.

"You're welcome."

Szayel looked back to the bandage he had securely fastened around Grimmjow's shoulder. Giving it a small tug to make sure it was taut and holding, he gently ran his hand over the other's arm before standing back up.

Grimmjow removed himself from the rock he was sitting on, falling into step beside his lover as they began making their way towards the palace of Las Noches; the dome-shaped outline was not too far away in the distance. He flexed his arm, returning the feeling to the injured muscle as they walked.

"I... can't help but feel that something's happened." Szayel mentioned quietly after a few moments of silence.

Grimmjow sighed, closing his eyes in an effort to quiet his turbulent mind.

"Yeah… I've been thinkin' that for a while." He replied, his voice strained.

The pair drew their cloaks around them tighter and continued briskly on their way towards home, their steps increasing to sonido.

* * *

Aizen gazed at the moon-drenched plains opening out below. In the far distance, movement flickered by from a flurry of airborne Hollow beginning their search for prey.

He chuckled to himself as he raised a cup to his lips, taking a long sip of black tea.

The Kurosaki boy provided an excellent source of entertainment, the youth's tortured screams from before seeming as music to his ears when he had branded the fiery orangehead's soul with the very thing he had hated the most. A number.

A connection to Aizen.

A sign to show that he belonged to the brown haired traitor and served him as one of his Espada.

Aizen chuckled again.

He had purposely used the kidou ritual to mark the boy. Whereas it was merely a simple tattoo-like appearance on the other ten, easily removed, this mark was different.

It was a permanent stain.

He would have it for the rest of his days. Even should he die and become a wandering soul, lost to either Soul Society's Rukongai or end up immediately in Hueco Mundo yet again, it would always be there.

And he would continue to be hunted down by Soul Society as a traitor, an Espada, even after the boy defeated them.

Such is the forgiveness and leniency of the Gotei 13.

He took another sip of his tea.

_It will also provide a friendly reminder towards the Sexta and Octava of their dire situation._

Aizen smirked; he knew of the relationship between Kurosaki Ichigo and the other two of his Espada. He also knew of their plotting to overthrow him to provide some hope of his defeat when the protection squads would wage their attack tomorrow.

He also knew that his remaining Espada had been made aware of his treachery.

His cold brown eyes glinted with amusement.

_I am intrigued as to how this will play out. I will not stop them. Let us see if they have the strength to stand up to me. _

Again, Ichigo had provided the means to an excellent source of entertainment.

Remaining sitting for a moment longer, Aizen sat up, striding towards the balcony to rest his hands against the cool metal of the balustrade.

He reached into his coat pocket and removed what at first glance appeared to be a small black ball.

He considered it for a moment, the smile never leaving his lips as he placed it down onto the balcony beam. The ball alit with a green light, a small clunking noise emanating from it as it buzzed; two small wing-like structures protruded from its smooth surface, the ball rolling and distorting to mould into a large beetle-like shape. Its eyes glowed faintly, awaiting the incoming message it was to receive.

A whirring, sparking sound filled the air from the device.

A few seconds passed.

The blur of static from the other side resonated over the electronic bug. Someone had answered its outgoing message.

"Yes, Aizen-sama?"

Aizen's smirk only deepened when he heard the trepidation over the line as Szayelaporro answered. It was only a fraction of a second's hesitation, but it was enough.

"Szayelaporro, is Grimmjow there with you?"

There was another brief silence.

"Yes." Came the response.

Aizen leant back into his chair again.

"Your mission went well?"

"Yes, Aizen-sama. We eradicated the threat and are now on our way back to Las Noches. We were going to report this to you once we arrived."

Aizen gave a brief hum of acknowledgement.

"There will be no need. I take it you were able to find some adequate data for research materials?"

"I was."

"Good. I am glad I sent you two. Ichigo-kun has been most anxious for your return."

His smile increased when he was met with a prolonged silence.

"Where is he?"

This time it was Grimmjow who spoke over the line.

"I do not concern myself with where the boy wishes to spend his moments of free time. I think that he will be waiting for you, though."

Aizen ended the transmission and chuckled aloud. The tense atmosphere on the other side of the signal was well worth it to only imagine what would happen when they saw the youth again.

It was a subtle warning to them which they could not ignore.

* * *

Ichigo gazed unseeingly out at the artificial sunset, his tears having stopped some time ago.

He had slowly made his way back to his room, his hand never once leaving his abdomen.

His arm was still wrapped around his stomach, his brain subconsciously keeping his hand gripped there in a futile, pitiful attempt to hide that which had already been branded into him.

The mark was now a part of his body, no longer burning from the evil demon art which had seared it there.

Instead, the burning was in his heart and mind.

Murder was the only thing that registered his thoughts. Murder of the man whom he had been intent on defeating for many months now, murder for what he had done to him, murder for Soul Society for their actions.

He closed his eyes.

The pain in his heart hurt more than anything Aizen's branding had inflicted on him.

He could see now that Aizen had purposely separated him from Grimmjow and Szayel, had driven them apart for long enough so that the shinigami traitor could act and impose this punishment.

He gave a humourless laugh.

Aizen had ensured that the Gotei 13 would rise to attack Ichigo and his family without a second's thought. They would attack him and his partners.

Ichigo's stomach churned.

_Undécimo, huh?_

His hand tightened around the number.

He felt sick.

"Ichigo?"

"Ichi!"

He turned his head quickly to the side, hearing the door fly open only to find himself being immediately swept into corded muscled arms a moment later and held against an equally muscled chest, Grimmjow burying his head against the orangette's neck.

Ichigo froze momentarily, his reaction time delayed as he was dragged out of his vengeful reverie. The slow realisation that this wasn't just some kind of tortured dream to ease the pain in his being eventually flooded through his brain, and Ichigo soon found himself wrapping an arm tightly around the Sexta in return, burying his face against the vibrant tousled blue locks of the taller man's hair and closing his eyes as he did so.

He felt warm again, though this warmth was entirely welcomed.

A set of strong, though slender arms snaked around his waist, Szayel wrapping his body around Ichigo's back and resting his cheek against the teen's.

Ichigo leant into both of their ministrations, the presence of the two Espada after so long driving away all the pain he had experienced hours previously, serving to dampen the tumultuous rage and ache in his soul.

"I missed you two…" he whispered, his voice hoarse after having not spoken since those screams had ripped through his throat.

"Ichi, are you ok?" Grimmjow asked, his voice filled with a sense of urgency as he pulled away, gazing at Ichigo with a serious expression on his face.

Szayel had also paused, stepping away from behind Ichigo to stand next to the Sexta in front of the teen. His eyes, too, were filled with a deep seriousness. Both of their faces gave away the intense worry that was being felt inside of their minds.

Ichigo blinked, his mouth opening to speak, but silence only followed.

He couldn't tell them what Aizen had done, though he knew all they had to do was look down and see the evidence for themselves. He still hadn't removed his hand from holding his lower stomach.

Their expressions grew sombre; the pain was evident in Ichigo's eyes.

"What did he do?" Grimmjow asked, his voice a low growl.

Ichigo gathered a deep breath, his very being raging once more with white-hot anger.

Szayel looked down and noticed where Ichigo's hand was wrapped. His eyes narrowed.

"Ichigo…"

Ichigo hung his head.

"… I'm sorry…"

His whisper was barely audible.

The mood grew darker.

Grimmjow reached out and wrapped a hand around Ichigo's wrist, pulling his arm free from his stomach to investigate the darkened area of skin under the teen's ripped jacket he had seen when he looked down, following Szayel's gaze.

Ichigo's brows pulled together, his teeth gritting when he heard two low gasps from in front of him.

It was quiet for a long time.

"… Shit… Ichi…"

Ichigo could feel the hand around his wrist trembling, could feel the gathering heated reiatsu of the angered Sexta in front of him. He slowly raised his head to see cyan blue eyes darkened with murderous intent, black pupils contracted into thin dots and the man's teeth bared.

Never before had he seen Grimmjow so angry.

He looked terrifying.

A garbled noise like a strangled cry escaped Szayel's throat, his golden eyes wide and his bottom lip wavering.

He fell to his knees, gripping Ichigo's hips weakly as he buried his head against the teen's abdomen.

"No…"

The whisper fell from the Octava's mouth in a horrified gasp. He pressed his mouth to the number, kissing the sensitive skin around the black '11', trailing his tongue slowly over the toned muscle it was imprinted against as if somehow desperately hoping he could remove it or make the pain disappear.

A vicious growl ripped through Grimmjow's throat as he let go of Ichigo's wrist and swung his fist around, punching a hole right through the wall.

"_SHIT!_"

He buried his head against his arm when he pulled it back up to rest over the damage he had created. He was breathing heavily, his eyes clamped shut.

Ichigo felt his heart rip into two all over again; his stomach felt like it had clenched over itself as he wrapped his arms around Szayel's back, running a hand through the pink locks of the man's hair as the Octava continued kissing his abdomen.

"... It was branded with kidou, wasn't it?" Grimmjow muttered, his voice hoarse.

Ichigo slowly raised his gaze to the blue haired male. He was still facing the wall, leaning his head against his hand.

Ichigo felt revulsion pit in his stomach once more as he caught sight of the large '6' along the Sexta's back.

"Yeah…" he replied, his tone quiet.

Szayel wrapped his arms tighter around Ichigo's waist.

"Fuck, Ichi…" Grimmjow's voice was strained as he pushed away from the wall, turning to face Ichigo with a look of complete anguish in his eyes.

"He didn't brand you like that… did he?" Ichigo asked faintly.

Grimmjow shook his head.

"Ours are only tattoos formed into our skin by his reiatsu. They're just as easy to remove – all he has to do is decide we're not worth crap and then he gets rid of us. Along with the number." The Sexta growled out darkly.

Ichigo could see where this was going.

"That type of branding… that number of yours, Ichigo… it's permanent." Szayel whispered as he lifted his head, standing back up.

Ichigo sighed, his hands falling to clench at his sides. He willed himself to keep his rising reiatsu in check.

He could already tell this number was different. He knew it was permanent, but to hear it having been said aloud like that made him become filled with despair all over again.

"Aizen's certainly gone out of his way to include me in the family, hasn't he?" he mused quietly, his voice lacking any sort of emotion whatsoever.

Grimmjow sighed.

"You realise what that means now, Ichi, right?"

Ichigo nodded.

Negotiating with Soul Society was completely out of the question. He was branded forever.

Still, it only provided more fuel for the fires when the time came to crushing them and their dictatorship.

"I'm going to fucking murder him. I won't rest until he bleeds out all over the sands of Hueco Mundo. _I'LL FUCKING KILL HIM,_" Grimmjow yelled, ramming his fist against the wall again before bringing his hands up and rubbing them over his eyes, trying to control his breathing as he panted with anger.

Ichigo lowered his gaze, willing himself to not break down again. He hated how equally hurt the others were because of this. Murder flared through his brain once more.

Szayel looked over to the Sexta.

"Grimmjow..." he murmured quietly, his tone pleading with the other to try and calm down. "This isn't helping right now..."

Grimmjow sighed, nodding and rubbing his hands over his eyes again. He moved to seat himself down on the couch and he clasped his hands in front of him, bowing his head.

"Yeah... you're right. Sorry 'bout that." He muttered.

"Come on..." the Octava whispered quietly, guiding Ichigo towards the bed to sit down, Ichigo sighing and allowing himself to follow.

There was a heavy silence for a long time.

"So what are we going to do now?"

Ichigo's murmured question hung in the air for a moment.

Grimmjow slowly raised his head, his gaze locked on the desert plains outside.

"Nothing that we weren't already planning. Aizen really does have shit for brains if he thinks that classin' you as an Espada now is gonna somehow put us in our place. It's like he's actually provoking us into attacking him tomorrow." He mused darkly.

A sigh sounded from nearby, the two turning their heads to look at Szayel who had his bottom lip chewed in thought.

"I would say that's exactly what he was aiming for." He said lowly.

Grimmjow and Ichigo continued to look at the Octava.

"Well, that's fucking peachy. I wonder what else that dickhead knows..." Grimmjow grunted out as he got up off the couch, striding over and letting out a sigh as he laid down on the bed, gazing up at the ceiling. His arm reached out to gently pull Ichigo down closer to him. Ichigo shifted so he could lay out beside the Sexta, his hands absentmindedly stroking through blue locks as Grimmjow rested his head against the teen's shoulder.

Szayel's eyes narrowed as he caught Ichigo's features crease up into a look of discomfort, his free hand moving to grip his stomach once more.

"Does it hurt?" the pink haired male asked quietly. Grimmjow's eyes also narrowed, and he moved to sit back up.

They received a nod in response.

It was true. The thought that Aizen had not only done this for his sick, twisted enjoyment, but also because he knew of their plans to rid themselves of him made the pain and overflowing despair flood through Ichigo's body once more, leaving him unable to comprehend anything except the memory of those searing, molten lines tearing through his skin, ripping his voice hoarse from his throat as he screamed for the heat to stop. He felt cold. He could only feel murder, death, torment.

Hurt.

It hurt so fucking much.

Szayel bowed his head, his golden eyes hard as he moved forwards. He was aware of his own reiatsu flickering to match the heated levels of Grimmjow's beside him.

He tucked his index finger and thumb under Ichigo's chin, tilting the teen's head up so he could gaze into pained brown irises. Ichigo blinked at the action, his eyes now questioning.

Szayel didn't say anything; he pressed his mouth down to Ichigo's, covering the soft lips with a reassuring touch and moving his own mouth against the immediately accepting one of the teens' in a meaningful, tender array of contact.

Ichigo's mind was quickly left in a haze at the feel of those lips moving with such careful care against his own. His heart unclenched, his own lips crashing gratefully against the Octava's soft warm mouth when he recovered from the faint shock at the sudden yet very much welcomed action.

A shiver went through his spine when warm lips began trailing over his earlobe, Grimmjow moving to place warm, firm kisses down the youth's jaw. Slowly trailing down towards the side of his throat, he wrapped muscular arms around the teen's back as he buried his head against Ichigo's shoulder.

A faint choked noise left Ichigo's throat, something between a moan of pleasure and a whimper of gratitude.

He clamped his eyes shut, gently pulling away from Szayel's mouth still caressing his own and he sat up straight as he bowed his head, his eyes still closed.

Grimmjow shifted to share a glance with his pink-haired lover whose golden eyes were filled with slight confusion.

"Ichigo? What's wrong?" Szayel asked, reaching out a hand to clasp it around Ichigo's.

Ichigo caught it, wrapping his fingers around Szayel's slender wrist before lifting his head, his brown eyes aching as if in some response to an inner turmoil.

"... Ichi–" Grimmjow began to ask, but was cut off as Ichigo reached out to slide the Sexta's jacket off of his shoulders, exposing his toned chest fully to the other two.

"O-oi... what..." Grimmjow's expression was mildly stunned, his cyan blue eyes echoing bewilderment.

Ichigo ignored this, reaching out and pulling the glasses from Szayel's face and causing the Octava to blink in surprise at the sudden action. His golden eyes widened again a moment later when the orangette moved to unzip the collar of Szayel's jacket, sliding it down and making to pull the garment off. Szayel reached out and gripped Ichigo's wrist again, holding his hand still.

"Ichigo? Wha... what are you doing?" he asked, slightly breathless.

Ichigo lifted his head, his expression desperate.

"Please..." he whispered.

Understanding flickered in the two Espada's faces, Szayel and Grimmjow sharing a look before turning to gaze back at Ichigo, conflicted emotions in their eyes.

"Ichi... as much as we'd like to, I don't really think that's a good idea right now..." Grimmjow whispered quietly.

An empty smile formed on Ichigo's lips, his head bowing again.

"I know. I don't care. This mark isn't going to go away. This pain probably won't ever fully heal. What's to say that tomorrow isn't going to be the end? The Gotei 13 are going to attack. We're going to bring down Aizen. That might not even happen. What if... what if... we all... die..."

"Ichigo..." Szayel's voice was stern as he gripped Ichigo's wrist firmer, his eyes aching with the pain that Ichigo's voice betrayed.

"Don't say that, Ichi... don't you ever say that." Grimmjow growled urgently as he grabbed Ichigo by the shoulders, crashing his lips down on the youth's; his hand rose up to grip the teen's chin, tilting his head to give him better access as he pushed Ichigo back against the mattress.

* * *

Ichigo gave a faint moan at the possessive display, his eyes sliding closed as he moved his lips in grateful return over Grimmjow's warm, firm mouth. Ichigo felt himself sinking into a lessened state of control as Grimmjow quickly slid his tongue over his soft pliant lips, Ichigo immediately granting him access and allowing the Sexta to slip the hot appendage fully inside his moist cavern. The taller male groaned when his tongue swirled against the teen's, tasting him all over.

Grimmjow could feel himself start to stir from the way Ichigo panted against his lips and he lifted both hands to grasp either side of the orangehead's neck, pressing his mouth down harder against Ichigo's, who moaned louder in response as he felt Grimmjow's tongue slip deeper inside. Ichigo's own tongue battled a failing bid for dominance as it caressed and stroked against the older male's.

Grimmjow found himself suddenly not caring about what he had said moments previously. He refused to acknowledge the boy's words about tomorrow's battle, but Ichigo needed them. And the Sexta would be damned if he didn't say that he and Szayel needed him just as badly in return.

Ichigo, in the back of his quickly fogging mind, felt movement and someone kneeling down on the bed next to them.

"Ichigo… are you sure?" Szayel whispered, his melodious voice cautious yet sill laced with need as he wound a hand through Ichigo's hair. Ichigo managed to nod in affirmation from where his lips were still being claimed by Grimmjow's, a moan of want sounding from his throat. Szayel gave a faint sigh of resignation, removing his hand. A panting need for breath when Grimmjow slowly pulled away some minutes later allowed Ichigo to sit up and throw the rest of his torn jacket onto the floor.

Ichigo fell back against the bed again as the Octava touched his lips to the teen's cheek, softly mapping the smooth skin with his mouth and then fanning over the bridge of his nose, his forehead, his chin, and finally the mouth that Grimmjow had plundered before with his lips and tongue.

Ichigo groaned faintly as that less dominant yet equally delectable mouth touched his. Szayel hummed silkily as he slid his tongue against Ichigo's when the teen had opened his mouth to gasp faintly, causing the youth to moan heatedly. He trailed his hands momentarily down towards his own jacket, unzipping the rest of it and throwing it carelessly aside behind him, not once parting his mouth from Ichigo's.

"Ichi…" Grimmjow groaned, his voice husky as he moved to rest his hand back against the orangette's cheek as soon as Szayel had pulled away. The Sexta moved so he had his arms pinning Ichigo's up by the headboard, his legs moving to straddle the teen's waist and keeping the younger male pinned firmly underneath him. He leant down, part of his mask sliding against Ichigo's neck and causing the youth to pant a little harder when the Sexta slid flush against him. Ichigo's eyes almost rolled back when he felt the taller man's rather prominent erection through his hakama.

"Ichi… yer too tense right now... yer have to relax otherwise it ain't gonna work too well when we take you," Grimmjow whispered, noticing Ichigo was trembling slightly.

Ichigo managed a faint nod as he laced his hands around the Sexta's neck.

"It's ok, Ichi..." Grimmjow continued to whisper, his mouth clasping gently down onto Ichigo's bared neck as he slowly moved to trace his hands over the rest of the expanse of Ichigo's chest, his hand dipping down underneath the orange haired males' waistband. Ichigo was only allowed a brief moment to gasp in surprise before the vestment was dragged off, leaving him completely exposed to the two.

Grimmjow and Szayel groaned loudly as they saw Ichigo's member already strained to attention before them, leaking softly with pre-cum as his length was freed to the cool air of the room.

Szayel flickered his gaze over to Grimmjow, sharing a nod with the blue haired male as the Octava leaned forwards, latching his teeth gently around Ichigo's sensitive ear and nibbling the sweet flesh. Grimmjow brought his hand down, wrapping it around the hardened shaft of the teen's member and began to stroke.

Ichigo's eyes rolled back into his head and his hips jerked forwards; the feel of those long fingers wrapped around him, pulling and tugging gently yet firmly made him lose absolutely all control that he had left.

"G-Grimmjow…" he gasped quietly.

"Shh, Ichi... calm down..." came the reply from the blue haired male.

Ichigo bit his lip, a pleasured sigh falling from his mouth as the Sexta continued the pumping motion with his hand. Szayel continued to caress the teen's earlobe, Ichigo eliciting a mewl when the Octava's long slender hand moved to roll one of Ichigo's rose-pink nipples in his fingers. Szayel slowly lowered his head, trailing his tongue down Ichigo's neck before capturing Ichigo's lips once more in a reassuring kiss. The teen gave an incoherent moan, his back arching against the bed from the pleasure numbing his body.

Grimmjow began to lower himself, sliding down Ichigo's body until he was facing the length in his hands. The Sexta licked his lips, the tip of his tongue sliding out along the length of Ichigo's hardened member as he gripped the orangette's hips.

Ichigo gave a gasp of surprise and his eyes snapped open, his chest rising and falling heavily as pleasure overloaded his senses. His hand found one of Szayel's from where it was resting beside him, and he gripped it tightly.

Grimmjow groaned heatedly again and continued to slide his tongue teasingly along Ichigo's length. Moving his head back to lap leisurely at the sensitive slit, he swallowed the small beads of pre-cum which had formed, his tongue flicking out and licking back down underneath the base towards the sac. Grimmjow lifted his gaze to lock cyan blue eyes with clouded brown and golden, and he opened his mouth and slid down on the orangehead's weeping member.

Ichigo cried out in a long, drawn-out moan of pleasure, his hips immediately bucking forth in his reaction to feeling himself become swallowed by that hot mouth, the heat driving him insane. He continued to buck erratically, the Sexta not minding one bit as he sank down lower onto Ichigo's length, lapping at everything the boy had to offer.

With a particularly devilish suck on his length courtesy of Grimmjow, Ichigo gasped once more, already feeling his release building up inside of him. Ichigo's dick twitched, a moan of pleasure ripping through his throat as Grimmjow elicited a rumbling purr of a groan, the vibrations of it sending tremors through Ichigo's cock and abdomen. The Sexta's cheeks hollowed slightly, lewd sucking noises filling the air amongst fevered gasps for breath from the teen as his head moved, sliding along the length in his mouth and sucking teasingly harder with each pull and rock of Ichigo's hips forwards.

The tell-tale trembling of the teen's release caused the blue haired male to tease and hungrily urge Ichigo closer over the edge with another sinful swallow of his throat around the hard member.

"Ahhhh… I'm… gonna… ohh G-Goooddd..."

That was the only warning Ichigo was able to give as he cried out, his eyes widening and white spots flickering in his vision when he jerked forwards with a particularly forceful thrust into the other's mouth, loud breathless gasps of surprise coursing from his throat. Grimmjow groaned in delight, sliding his mouth back and opening it a little wider to swallow Ichigo's seed as the teen came, a loud cry of Grimmjow's name escaping heatedly from the orangette's lips.

Ichigo gave a prolonged moan, sweat plastering his forehead as his hips jerked in rough twitches after his release, his heart pounding viciously inside his chest.

Grimmjow licked his lips, cyan eyes continuing to gaze heavily with lust as he slid back up Ichigo's body, trailing his hands seductively down the youth's sides.

"You ok, Ichi?" he murmured quietly.

Ichigo panted in response, nodding. His head fell back against the pillow, his body trembling yet feeling pleasantly sated.

Szayel leant forward to press his lips against Grimmjow's, tasting Ichigo's essence from the other's mouth and he groaned in satisfaction when his tongue dipped down into the Sexta's heated cavern.

Presently the two parted, Ichigo barely having time to raise a question when he was stopped by two pairs of lust-darkened eyes centred directly on him. His dick twitched heavily in anticipation despite his recent orgasm, the blood already pumping once more down towards his mid-region. His breath hitched again.

"Ichigo, come here," Szayel whispered, gently pulling on Ichigo's arm. Ichigo felt himself get helped up into a seated position and he wrapped his arms tightly around Szayel's neck as he rested his forehead against the Octava's, their lips meeting in swift, heated kisses. Ichigo murmured and panted faintly into the kiss when he felt another warm body slide behind him a moment later; he moaned softly as he felt a prominent hardness brush against the small of his back, Grimmjow biting gently along the edge of Ichigo's earlobe.

Ichigo mewled faintly, leaning back against the hard muscled chest of the blue haired man when the latter snaked his arms tightly around Ichigo's waist, trailing sensuously down the ridges of his lightly tanned chest.

Szayel began to remove his hakama; Ichigo swallowed thickly, moaning faintly as he reached up and ran his hands through Grimmjow's hair, his eyes watching Szayel's movements.

Szayel chuckled, completely removing his lower vestments a moment later, allowing Ichigo to see his naked form. The teen's eyes widened as he saw the prominent erection spring forth, as well as the Hollow hole which carved out a small portion near the tip of Szayel's cock.

"So that's where it is…" he found himself muttering as his gaze lingered on the hole. He blushed faintly a moment later when he caught Szayel's reaction.

The Octava had an eyebrow raised in amusement as he leant forwards on his hands and knees, lifting a hand and caressing the side of Ichigo's cheek.

"Where were you expecting it to be?" he murmured silkily, licking his tongue over Ichigo's chin.

Ichigo felt himself freeze momentarily.

"Well, I dunno, but… I wasn't expecting it to be in a place so… sexy…" he whispered so quietly it was almost hard for the other two to hear him. But they did.

Grimmjow snorted an amused laugh, sliding his tongue along the length of Ichigo's neck whilst Szayel hummed in pleasure, chuckling and moving to place his index and middle finger against Ichigo's lips, silently telling the teen to open his mouth and suck on them.

Ichigo complied, panting slightly as the long fingers slid in and he flicked his tongue around the digits, his warm lust-clouded brown eyes meeting equally darkened golden.

"Ichigo, if you keep flattering me like that and with my fingers in your mouth, I'm afraid I'm going to have to take you into the lab and have my way with you there…" Szayel smiled, a devilish grin forming at the corners of his lips. Ichigo moaned around the man's fingers, continuing to slide his tongue around them and coating them with saliva.

"I can also think of a good place for you to put that talented mouth of yours, my dear. Sex in a laboratory is particularly stimulating… can you imagine all of the equipment that gets spoiled?"

Ichigo was gasping by this point, his dick twitching heavily again as a result of the Octava's dirty talk.

Grimmjow smirked, moving to Ichigo's ear and flicking his tongue along the outer shell.

"He's not lyin', Ichi… my Resurrección form is a panther… oh, what he makes me do with my tail…" he whispered hotly, his voice a deepened purr.

Ichigo tilted his head back; a loud, heated groan left his lips as his brain near exploded from the blissful verbal and mental torture he was being subjected to.

This distraction allowed Szayel to remove his well-coated fingers and proceed to gently slip the first into the tight ring of muscle of Ichigo's entrance.

Ichigo's lips were captured by a warm, firm mouth as Grimmjow turned his head; Szayel gently slid his finger in and out of Ichigo's entrance, beginning to prepare him. He bit his lip and sighed as he felt the heated tightness of the youth's passage, his own cock already straining with the need to fill the younger male up.

He lifted his head and gazed entranced at Ichigo's flushed face; he slid the second finger in when Ichigo faintly murmured that he was ready, before Grimmjow seized his lips again. Moving his two fingers inside of the boy in a scissoring motion, he continued the gentle thrusting rhythm and entered a third finger when Ichigo was able to calm himself again. Ichigo moaned a little louder, Grimmjow moving to rub the teen's abdomen to help him relax.

_Almost there_… Szayel thought, biting his lip again.

He curled his fingers a little, digging them gently inside the velvety lining of Ichigo's walls. He pressed against something and Ichigo's eyes flew open, a loud moan escaping his lips as his back arched away from Grimmjow's chest.

Szayel and Grimmjow smiled, loving the erotic sight of Ichigo coming undone when his prostate was touched.

Ichigo panted incoherently, his cheeks turning a brighter red and sweat dripping down his forehead, his hips thrusting up as Szayel slid his fingers repeatedly against his pleasure spot.

"You like this, Ichigo?" Szayel purred, licking his lips.

Ichigo nodded, gasping louder, trying to ram his hips down onto his pink-haired lover's fingers to get more of that magic bliss coursing through him.

"Y-yessss… m-more… p-pleeaaassee…" he whined.

Grimmjow grit his teeth as he locked gazes with Szayel, quickly holding a hand out to which the latter slid his tongue around one of the digits, Grimmjow closing his eyes as he felt that hot appendage slick over his index finger. Ichigo continued to moan and writhe faintly, trying to feel more pressure as Szayel resumed the sliding motion of his fingers.

Grimmjow presently removed his finger from Szayel's mouth, slipping it into Ichigo's entrance alongside the other three of the Octava's digits; Ichigo needed to be stretched a little more if he was going to be accommodating the both of them inside that intoxicatingly tight passage of his.

Ichigo was sliding his hips faster, pre-cum already starting to glisten again from the tip of his now once more erect member, his head lolling back as pleasure continued to seep through him.

"Fuck, Ichi…" Grimmjow panted out, Ichigo's abdomen twitching.

Szayel could only groan heatedly.

The two quickly removed their fingers, Ichigo gasping in disappointment and eyeing them from under his half-lidded eyes. Szayel's gaze met Grimmjow's, and, nodding, Grimmjow laid back against the bed as he gripped Ichigo's hips, gently turning the orangette around so he was lying on top of him.

Ichigo's hands found purchase along either side of Grimmjow's neck, fingers clenching in the pillow. He moaned faintly when he felt Szayel gently wrap his body around his back, keeping him firmly in the middle of the two.

His legs parted alongside of Grimmjow's hips, the two groaning as their arousals rubbed together briefly once more. Ichigo concentrated on the depths of blue irises and the soothing massaging of his smaller back by the golden eyed man behind him.

Closing his eyes, he calmed himself and nodded. Grimmjow slowly slid the tip of his aching length inside the ring of Ichigo's entrance.

Immediately, the two groaned loudly; Grimmjow feeling the tight heat of Ichigo's passage clamping around him, driving him absolutely insane, and Ichigo gritting his teeth slightly as something much larger than fingers entered inside him.

Grimmjow waited, Szayel continuing to trace soothing circles over Ichigo's back, before the blue haired male slid the rest of the way in, slowly, when Ichigo had adjusted.

The Sexta's eyes closed, gritting his teeth when he was seated fully inside Ichigo. A low, intense moan left his throat at how fucking _good _the teen felt around him. Ichigo cried out softly from a mix of pain and pleasure, his passage clamping tightly around Grimmjow's member.

"God… G-Grimm… "

"You ok, Ichi?" came the strained response.

Ichigo nodded, panting.

"P-please…"

Grimmjow gazed completely enthralled at Ichigo's flushed face, the teen's breathing heated and everything about him incredibly arousing to him as he began moving into the youth. His hands gripped Ichigo's waist and he grunted his satisfaction as his own hips rocked slowly, carefully sliding himself inside the bliss of Ichigo's entrance.

His hardened length disappeared into the heated passage, drawing loud moans and groans from Ichigo above him, the teen's teeth gritting harder as he gripped Grimmjow's shoulders tightly. His face continued to flush red, small beads of sweat sliding down his cheeks, his mouth opened and gasping in air as the feel of Grimmjow moving inside him, sliding and rocking slowly in his walls made him lose all coherency of thought.

Grimmjow's back arched slightly against the bed, a deep growl of pleasure ripping through his chest as he licked his lips, Ichigo's hips moving over his own and his cock getting swallowed in that delightful passage making him almost see stars. Ichigo moaned louder, the air becoming filled with harsh pants for breath as Grimmjow thrust again up into that tight heat, losing himself completely. His hips rocked deeply, slow and steady, trying to restrain himself from pounding into the youth recklessly in his aching need to feel more of that heaven.

Ichigo panted harder, his head throwing back and his body twitching when Grimmjow thrust higher, pleasure overriding his senses and making him crave more.

"P-please… more... moorreee..."

"God… Ichi… haaa… you're so… hot… tight…" Grimmjow arched his back higher, gasping heavily as Ichigo fell forwards, delicious moans falling loudly from parted lips as he eagerly moved his hips to time with the rising thrust of Grimmjow's own against his, helping to urge the taller male inside deeper, needing to be filled more completely.

Ichigo managed a glance behind his shoulder, his eyes half lidded and clouded with pleasure.

"S-Szayel… please… I… nghh... need… you both… inside... me..."

Szayel let loose a breath he didn't realise he had been holding when he was watching the two move; his member was already aching at unbelievable levels, and he nodded, parting Ichigo's legs a little more. He moved to capture Ichigo's lips with his own from where he had rested his cheek against the boy's.

Grimmjow moaned hotly and went to clasp Ichigo's weeping member, causing the youth to stiffen up in increased pleasure and surprise to make it easier in allowing Szayel to enter him. Ichigo groaned louder against Szayel's mouth, his hips jerking forwards sharply as the hand around his twitching dick stroked and pulled.

Szayel carefully lined himself up with Ichigo's entrance, slowly sliding himself in when Grimmjow had pulled out. The Octava's mouth was still connected with the teen's and he groaned loudly against Ichigo's lips as the tip of his member found purchase inside the clenched, tight heat.

Ichigo cried out softly, his mouth falling away from Szayel's as his head bowed, moaning when he felt the other slide into him after Grimmjow.

Grimmjow quickly moved to capture Ichigo's lips with his own; Szayel bit his teeth gently down onto Ichigo's shoulder as he waited for the youth to adjust to the second length inside of him. Ichigo gave a faint groan, his hand reaching out to clasp onto both the Octava's and Sexta's, letting them know that he was ready.

Szayel panted and wrapped his arms around Ichigo's chest, pulling him back so he was sitting up. Ichigo cried out louder as the action caused him to slide down heavily on both of his lover's cocks. His chest rose and fell in time with his harsh breathing, his hips jerking and his back arching - he became a twitching, writhing mess as pleasure and delight coursed through his being. Loud moans fell from the Sexta and Octava's lips, faint sheens of sweat plastering their foreheads as they watched Ichigo writhe around sinfully from their penetration.

Sharing a heated look, Grimmjow began thrusting up, the action causing Ichigo's pleasured groans to turn into deep panting moans as his body become overridden with further unadulterated ecstasy. Szayel thrust himself up in one deep, slow motion, sliding past Grimmjow in a carefully timed rhythm, causing louder cries of pleasure to issue from Ichigo's lips.

Grimmjow thrust up quickly once more with a slightly harder stroke, Szayel waiting and then sliding the rest of the way inside the intoxicating tightness of their young lover when Grimmjow had begun to pull back out again, the two Espada groaning heavily as they slid against each other inside Ichigo.

Ichigo had reached out and laced his hands tightly around the back of Grimmjow's neck, his head falling back against Szayel's shoulder and his back arching away from the pale lightly toned chest as hips thrust and snapped, cocks sliding deeper inside his trembling tightness. Szayel grit his teeth as he ground himself further into Ichigo's by now pleasurably abused passage, desperately needing more, threading his fingers through Ichigo's hair and clasping a long fingered hand tightly around the youth's hip – tears of bliss streaming gently down Ichigo's cheeks as pleasure overloaded inside of him.

Ichigo had completely lost all coherency of thought, the feeling of his two lovers inside of him, moving deep inside his heat had thrown him completely over the edge. His moans became louder, mingling into high-pitched cries of ecstasy alongside those of Grimmjow's and Szayel's.

"AHHHH… GRIMM… JOW… S-SZAY... EL... haaa… ngghhh…"

He didn't even know when he had started screaming their names.

Grimmjow and Szayel moaned out as they rode themselves higher inside Ichigo, the latter's hips snapping up and thrusting down to meet them again and again, riding them both in an increasingly desperate bid for release. The air was heavy and slicked with sweat, heat, and passionate moans and gasps of desire. Szayel and Grimmjow gripped Ichigo tighter, sitting up straighter and thrusting themselves deeper without restraint inside their young lover, Ichigo's dick already leaking profusely with pearly white droplets as his member twitched in response.

Ichigo's head flew back, his back arching sinfully – his eyes widened and his mouth opened to let loose a scream of delight as he felt those two lengths slide simultaneously up against his prostate. Szayel and Grimmjow noticed this, freezing momentarily before letting out passionate moans of their own.

Grimmjow thrust up harder, groaning and panting, ramming in a more erratic fashion as he felt himself becoming closer to release. He sat up, crashing his mouth over Ichigo's, swallowing the wild cries and screams of ecstasy that accompanied him as he changed his speed. He bucked harder, sliding in and out of Ichigo with a pace so fast it was almost animalistic.

Szayel clamped his mouth down on Ichigo's shoulder, crying out with pleasure as he thrust deeper inside Ichigo yet again, moving to slide and pound against the teen's prostate with as intense a motion as he could. He began lapping at the marks he had placed on the taut skin, his teeth lightly scraping sensitive flesh.

Ichigo's hips jerked wildly, the tears flowing faster as he continued to scream and moan into Grimmjow's mouth; he was already cumming fast, his member leaking profusely.

"I'm… I'm… AHHHHHH!" he ended in a high-pitched moan, almost completely undone as his head flew back.

Szayel and Grimmjow grit their teeth, their own faces flushed with pleasure and exertion.

"Ichigo… ngghhh… ICHIGO!"

With a loud, resounding scream of both of their names, Ichigo came, his seed exploding between them and coating his and Grimmjow's chests. His hips continued to jerk and twitch as he rode out his orgasm, a long wailing moan of pleasure falling from his lips as he did so.

Giving one last, deep thrust each, Szayel and Grimmjow both reached their release after their young lover, coating themselves and Ichigo deep inside his pleasurably abused passage – Ichigo's name screamed in loud, heated cries from both of their mouths.

Ichigo almost cried as he felt them release inside him, feeling their hot substance pool deep within his walls and making him feel whole. His head fell forward, his entire body shaking as they all continued to jerk their hips, riding it out.

"I l-love... you..." Ichigo panted breathlessly, his eyes shutting and his entire body trembling.

Szayel's arms wrapped tightly around Ichigo's waist, pressing his lips against the teen's, the both of them moaning into each other's mouths. Grimmjow moved to rest his forehead against Ichigo's, sliding his tongue and mouth over both of their lips in return, hungrily devouring both of their mouths with his own.

"We l-love you too, Ichigo..." the Sexta and Octava panted out, groaning as they waited until their hips stopped before slowly sliding out of Ichigo. The orange haired youth clamped his eyes shut as they did so, all three utterly spent.

* * *

The artificial sunset outside had faded to be replaced with the never-changing crescent moon of Hueco Mundo, its silver light streaming through the window as they fell weakly back against the bed.

Ichigo's body was trembling and shaking, his energy had been drained and he could hardly keep his eyes open any longer; he continued to pant heavily for breath, his heart pounding furiously inside his chest.

Szayel and Grimmjow were also shaken, the two dropping with exhaustion against the mattress, their bodies slicked with sweat and their gasps for air filling the room just like Ichigo's. Sharing a weak smile as Ichigo tiredly met their eyes they helped him lie down between the two; Grimmjow wrapped his arms around Ichigo's waist whilst Szayel, on the teen's other side, gently threaded a hand through his hair, burying his head against Ichigo's neck as his arms snaked around his back.

Ichigo mumbled faintly as he curled into both of his lovers, unable to fight off the sleep any longer.

"Thank… you…"

His warm brown eyes closed. He had fallen asleep.

Grimmjow and Szayel smiled, continuing to hold the teen close to them as they placed final kisses along his forehead, his cheek, and his mouth as he slept.

"You were amazing, Ichi…" Grimmjow whispered softly, licking along their orange haired lover's earlobe.

Szayel gently kissed the back of Ichigo's hand.

They sighed as they lowered their gaze to the number '11' branded on his abdomen.

"Undécimo, eh?" Grimmjow murmured quietly, so as not to wake Ichigo.

Szayel's eyes grew stony as he reached out and traced his fingers over the gothic looking numeral. He could still feel the tingling of the kidou used to imprint the number.

"It's nothing to take lightly." He whispered, his tone grieved.

Grimmjow sighed faintly, his eyes noticing the '8' on the back of Szayel's neck as the pink-haired male rested his head against the pillow, his hair fanning out from his shoulders to allow a clear view of the pale skin of his neck bone.

He felt anger and rage flood his body once more.

"I think I understand a lot clearer why Ichi hates these numbers so much." He muttered. Szayel opened a golden eye to gaze at the blue haired man.

"When it comes down to the battle tomorrow… I'm gonna carve eleven scars all across that fucking bastard's body. One for each of us that he's fucked over. The largest bleeding wound will be for Ichigo."

Szayel smiled at his blue eyed lover's promise, those cyan orbs illuminating the wrath and determination he too was feeling.

"I was going to do the exact same." Szayel murmured quietly, his fingers threading back through Ichigo's loose grip to join back up with Grimmjow's, holding their younger lover's hand in theirs.

Sleep quickly overtook them, the Hollow world's moon illuminating the three sleeping figures curled close together.

Tomorrow would see the fate of three worlds held in the balance, the ensuing war weighing heavily on both sides.

But if there was one thing which could be agreed on, it was that Aizen _would_ be defeated.

This was the promise made by the Espada.

And especially by the Sexta and Octava, for their young Undécimo.

* * *

**A/N: Yep. My first time writing a threesome. I have absolutely NOTHING to say about this, or about how long it is. If you don't like it, don't comment. Simple as that *nods head***

**Does this let me off the hook for last chapter now? :3 **

**No? :/**


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